Wake Up

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.
-- "Land of Confusion" Genesis

What is going on with people today? Why are so many people caught up in things that don't matter at all? I am frustrated beyond belief today, and this is a soapbox message, so you might want to run away right now.

It was brought back to my attention the other day while I was talking with some educators from various places that there are teachers in various places who are just sort of drawing their checks and telling their kids to read or watch a video. There are teachers who pick favorites, pass them, and ignore or actively persecute the others.

I am an idealist. I proudly accept that title. I know that reality is often so far from my ideals as to not even be visible from the distance that separates them. I know my idealism often makes me naive.

All that being said, I cannot understand how anybody anywhere would get up as early as we have to, come to school, and do this incredibly taxing job with no passion. As far as I'm concerned, if the paycheck is your primary driving force, no matter what your job is, you need to get the heck out. Life is too short to chain yourself to the grindstone just for the money.

Why do people spend the biggest part of their lives doing things that don't fulfill them? Who told them that that's what life is for? Not every day is wine and roses, nor should it be, but if the majority of your life is spent hating what you do, then one day you will wake up, bitter and wasted, wishing you'd followed a different path.

The students under those burnt-out teachers are learning the same dangerous lesson: there's no joy to be had in the working world. That all that awaits them after high school is boredom beyond comprehension and perpetual unhappiness. The pattern of drudgery is being ingrained before they even choose a future for themselves.

Worse to me, the privilege of learning, of coming to a place and spending your time taking in new ideas and knowledge, of expanding your world's boundaries, becomes an onerous burden when those teachers simply snarl, snap, and ignore. Everyday, I get the joy of watching some of my students start to unfold like flowers opening in the sun. This has nothing to do with my skill as a teacher. I am a mediocre teacher at best, but I get to see those tiny victories because I care desperately about what I'm doing and I try to make sure they know it.

Can you imagine the force and the power for change if people would simply raise their heads from the rutted paths they've worn, and look for the jobs, the hobbies, the lives that would make them feeling humans instead of lifeless automatons? Life is too short to do what you hate every single day. It's tantamount to grabbing a sharp or hot object again and again because you make the mistake of grabbing it the first time and you don't know how to stop. We have to find a new way for our world to go forward.