Recent Thoughts

So many developments in the last few weeks, I am not sure where to start:

Politics…Well, we all know that Barack Obama is now president, which makes me very pleased. I am proud of my country to finally put aside petty stuff, and elect someone who comes into the office with intellect, leadership and a team. As with others, I hesitantly wait to see how his first term goes with all the CRAP he needs to deal with.

On a depressing note, while our country moves forward in its equality to all, we took a step back by passing Proposition 8 in California. I am really annoyed, depressed and scared by this: In one night we ELIMINATED rights to a group of people. How nonchalant everyone is over the elimination of a right to someone boggles me as I see how ignorant so many others are to the real argument. I spend so many lessons in school working on students’ ability to compare and contrast similar arguments to make an educated decision. This proposition did not have the parallelism at all. While I agree with same sex marriage, I was really concerned about the elimination of rights of others, which many who opposed the proposition also felt. Those who wanted the proposition (Yes on 8) stated that without the proposition, people would lose their religious freedom and right to speech.How can this remove their religious freedom? Can they deny gay people in their church?…yes, because by law they have religious freedom. Can they say they do not believe in same sex marriage? …yes, because they have the freedom of speech. Should churches have a say in legal policy? …no, because the founding fathers decided the church and state law should be separated.

In response I heard so many state that if same sex couples could get over the word “marriage” then everything would be okay, but how? Legally, they cannot receive a Certificate of Marriage. And why not? Will it really hurt others? One interview I saw with a gay man, married in June, stated that a serial killer has more rights to marriage than he does as long as it is to the opposite sex. I hope this overturns.

Education…With the economic crisis at hand, I have the possibility of receiving a pink slip in March, but most likely I will deal with cuts to my after school program and projects. So much for funding the minds of the future. While I hate taxes, I think America really needs to re-think its strategy toward public education, and fund the potential that exists in the public system.

I will say in the all the debates, the moment I sat up and yelled at the screen was during McCain’s proposal that troops should be allowed to become teachers without dealing with the certification process. While I hope returning troops seek the education profession, I shake my head when I continually hear politicians and others feel that teaching is easy and certification is really not needed. Granted, some teaching training programs are not very good (as some medical programs are not very good), but still it is a profession and should be respected as such. Heaven forbid we have educated people educating our youth and have the proper skills to distribute and develop knowledge, creativity, innovation and personal skills.

Life…my mate and I still move along. We are not feeling the financial crisis too heavily but we didn’t have extravagant lifestyles to give up or modify. We still are not sure what we want to do in the near future, i.e. move, house, family, or travel, so we save and wait for the epiphany. If anyone knows how to speed up the epiphany, please let me know.

I should step down off the soap box before I trip up too bad on some sharp corners.