It’s my birthday in a few hours. I have spent sixty seven years on this earth. I have seen much. I lost my father at the age of eight and watched my mother devolve into extreme mental illness when I was twenty years old. I have lost a number of good friends and many relatives. I have seen a President assassinated and a hero shot down. I have watched friends coming back from Vietnam maimed or in coffins. I witnessed the end of segregation and the inauguration of the first black President. My children have grown and blessed me with seven grandchildren who have unfortunately lived in a world more uncertain than the one I knew when I was a kid. I have had a happy marriage and a wonderful career that allowed me to have a very meaningful life and to meet some of the finest people that I have ever known. While I have seen much evil, I like to believe that the vast majority of the world’s people are truly good. I suppose that I am a cockeyed optimist even after all these years. I prefer being that way rather then thinking that my glass is half empty.
Someone that I know who is married to a Holocaust victim recently told me that her spouse often urges her to look forward rather than back. I suspect that anyone who has undergone such a terrible experience has to find hope on the road ahead because dwelling on what has already happened leads to nowhere. I think about many things and sometimes worry just a bit, especially when I see discord among the people that I love. I just can’t find it in myself to be self-righteous or judgmental. I have made too many mistakes on my own to believe that I have all the answers. Besides, I have a knack for seeing the positive in virtually everyone with the exception of those who are undeniably evil. Luckily my encounters with such people have been few but I have spotted them immediately when they have been around. Continue reading “Birthday Thoughts”
A debate is “a formal discussion on a particular topic in which opposing arguments are put forward.” The first debate between presidential candidates occurred between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. The two men outlined their philosophies and plans for the country in a series of seven different meetings. In those historic dialogues they rotated their roles with the first speaker delivering a one hour speech outlining his platform followed by an hour and a half rebuttal from his opponent and finally a thirty minute response from the lead speaker. There were no moderators nor unexpected questions. Instead the proceedings focused on the substantive issues of the day and gave each man the opportunity to highlight his beliefs. 
President Obama and Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan announced this weekend that they plan to ask school leaders to significantly reduce the amount of classroom time that students spend taking tests. They have suggested a guideline that would reduce that number to two percent of the school year or less. Secretary Duncan has traveled thousands of miles to locales all across the country and he has learned that teachers, students and parents are all feeling overwhelmed by the massive amount of emphasis being placed on tests. The general consensus from all sides is that the tests are determining what happens in the classroom far too often, leaving students unmotivated and stressed. The announcement represents a dramatic shift in thinking about what constitutes a proper way to measure accountability in our nation’s classrooms. The question that remains is whether or not this will have any real impact on schools or if it will only be a symbolic gesture. 
There has been a great deal of talk here in the United States regarding immigration for decades despite Donald Trump’s claim that he introduced the topic when he decided to run for President. What few citizens truly understand is the changing nature of immigration rules and patterns over time and the efforts to improve policies to meet the most current needs of the country. The discussions of immigration reform tend to center on false rhetoric and emotions rather than facts and the law.
I simply can’t resist weighing in on Donald Trump one more time even though I risk hurting the feelings of some of my favorite people. I have been amused, baffled, and even angered by his supposed popularity among certain segments of the population. I’m an informal student of human nature and so I have taken it upon myself to attempt to make some sense of the Trump phenomenon. I’ve forced myself to watch his press conferences and his rallies even though it nauseates me to do so. In the process I believe that I have determined just what makes his campaign tick.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 