Learn Something!

           Driving to and from the elementary school in an economically disadvantaged urban community, where I teach, gives me a lot to think about. The boarded windows and the trash everywhere is sad. The bright spots are definitely the clean, well-maintained homes, though they are few. The innovative little businesses that pop up along the way are noticeable with their colorful, inexpensive signs, but these too are few and far between.  The churches offer rays of hope, but their influence is sometimes minimal. As one looks around, an older adult sweeping the sidewalk or planting flowers might be seen. These are signs that a few adults do care. Why would some even vandalize their own neighborhood or permit others to do so? Our beautiful school garden was vandalized last night for the second year in a row. It was not theft of the produce.  It was deliberate destruction. Why?

            The brightly scrubbed children with their hair neatly braided or combed stand with parents tightly holding their hands waiting for a bus.  There are others walking to school with loving parents guiding them and chatting on the way. There is something exciting and hopeful about going to school for the children wearing backpacks on their backs and carrying anticipation in their countenance.  The skipping, hopping, running and chatting show that many of these children do want to go to school. Their movement shows excitement. They are full of hope. It is rare to see a child under ten who is not bouncing on his or her way to school. School is about hope and opportunity.  Learning and discovery are fun and they know it. 

            What are we doing that robs these children of their hope?  What is it that turns the many children who care to only few adults who do?

            One of my favorite of all sights on my drive is the teenage student waiting at the school bus stop so oblivious to the world around him, because he is totally engrossed in a book. A book that can take him to a different time and place if he so chooses.  The desire to read that book can make a difference to the young person and the community, because it is within those pages that dreams are created and become real.  Why do some teens care so much and others not at all?

            Are we as a society too demanding or not demanding enough?  The passion and motivation for learning seem to slip away as the years go by for many of our students. Do we fail to encourage and discover strengths, because we are focusing on the wrong things?  We know that we are doing something that is not working, but we cannot see what it is. Are we learning how to solve our problems?

            One of my all-time favorite quotes is from T.H. White in The Once and Future King.   “The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you…”

            Will we as a society, as communities, and as human beings learn the lessons of cause and effect?  Will we learn as fellow sojourners how to improve our world and our individual lot in life? Can we keep hope and joy alive?  The only way to make something positive out of a bad situation is to learn something.  Will we?