Live and learn.
Well, that's the theory, anyway.
Learning, schooling, education, none suffer from any lack, whatsoever, of perusal, perspective and/or punditry from a plethora of erudite minds.
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow...learn as if you were to live forever"---Mahatma Gandhi.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"--Nelson Mandela.
The wittier amongst us have frequently weighed in on the subject.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education"--Mark Twain.
"You can never be overdressed...or over-educated"--Oscar Wilde.
But here's a big finish that delivers a sizable wallop of wisdom.
"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper..or your self-confidence"--Robert Frost.
Comparatively speaking, in the current cultural climate, very little occurs in the way of deep and/or meaningful debate, dialogue or discussion about education in America these days.
Oh, there's been a tabloid's worth of squeaking and squawking about how public schools are being given the stick's short end with the goal of making private schools the standard educational resource, said project spearheaded by Donald's always present genius savvy at finding the best people, the most terrific people, in this case, Betsy DeVos as his Secretary of Education.
Just saying Betsy DeVos and Education in the same sentence reminds me I've got to hurry up and mail in my contribution to the "Oxymoron of the Month Club".
Which impishly reminds me that I just used Betsy DeVos and moron in the same sentence,, but, I digress.
Which, as long as I'm digressing, reminds me that those kids who were taken from their parents at the border who, we are now told, will not be re-united with their parents because finding out who belongs to who is just too much of a strain for the system in place (read: there is no system in place)..not to worry about those kids because they are being farmed out to a highly respected (you can't hear the sarcasm, but, trust me, it's there) adoption agency.
Which reportedly just happens to have major financial ties to....wait for it.....Betsy DeVos.
But, I digress on my earlier digression.
So back to the subject at hand. Or, in the spirit of keeping things entertainingly thematic, back to school.
Live and learn.
Historically, absolutely correct.
And, at the same time, not so much, no.
Paradox, you say? Contradiction? Incongruity?
Uh, actually both of those mean the same thing as paradox.
But, in answer to your question and/or questions.
Yes.
At this point, the need for some education is indicated.
Allow me. Momentarily.
Log on over, baby, whole lotta meme-n' goin' on.
In the always amusing world in which technology has provided us with, literally, hundreds of ways to communicate with one another and yet actually connecting with each other remains the elusive butterfly, the meme is fairly secure in the top five of preferred methods of making contact.
Here's a fun fact to know and tell. "Meme" is from the Greek, mimema, "that which is imitated"...the dictionary def goes on to define as 'an element of a culture or a system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by non-genetic means....(this basically means that it's not inherited from your parents, like your blue eyes or red hair or your tendency to think your particular skin color is superior to any other skin color)...
And, then, of course, there's the more contemporary lowdown "a humorous image, video, etc that is copied, often with slight variations and spread rapidly by Internet users.
Again, boiling it down to basics....it's a text message with pictures.
Very often, even mostly, it arrives with some humor, parody, satire and/or snark attached.
Now and then, it offers up facts and/or figures and/or current life circumstances that the most of us would just as soon not be having to face.
This one came across my radar the other day. And it reminded me that I've been meaning to do a piece on education and its importance in the whole scheme of things.
The visual was simply a woman at a podium. Truth be told, I'm not really sure who it is. Young, black woman. Looks a little like Beyonce but it's not Beyonce. Looks a little like Tyra Banks but it's not Tyra Banks. All of this, by the way, highlighting one of the more subtle drawbacks of the meme format.
Sometimes, the message of the meme gets lost in the distraction of the delivery.
Not so much this time around.
"After two years of Donald Trump, I've wondered why conservative voters still support him. I though maybe they were still angry and afraid or just ignorant and in denial or racist, but that's not it. I've realized the reason they still support Trump and love him is not because of any of those things. They love him...because they ARE him. They have the same morals, the same prejudices, the same hatreds and the same insecurities he has. They're the same person he is and always have been. We see it in them now because Trump has given them permission to come out in the open and be who they really are. And...it's ugly."
What, I'm going to hazard a guess you're asking here, in the world does any of that have to do with education?
Well, I'm glad you asked. Because I been a itchin' to larn ya'll bout' that.
First, props to Donald and his much adored modus operandi, let me tell it like it is.
Educated people have been draggin un-educated people to safety, success, even survival since day one, dawn of time.
If you felt your blood pressure surge just a skosh at that, please, allow me to add this.
You're welcome.
It could easily, and correctly, be said that any chapter and verse or bullet point list of those things in life that are in this life through the efforts of educated, as opposed to uneducated, people would be both time consuming and, well, frankly, insulting to those who fall into that "un" category.
Yeah, well, first, I'm in no hurry here and I've got a few minutes.
And given what the un-educated are inflicting upon us in these days of the Donald, I'm not inclined to give a rat's ass one way or the other if what I offer insults you.
Put simply, if you're smart enough to realize you might learn something worth knowing by hanging in with me for the next few minutes, then, you won't be insulted anyway.
And if you're not smart enough to realize when some education might benefit you and you're feeling insulted by what I'm saying at the moment.....
Not a problem. See ya...see ya...wouldn't wanna be ya.
I learned that in or around the time I was in the first grade, memory serves, so, right there, already, we see the benefit of quality education beginning at an early age.
But, seriously, ladies and germs.
I'm not going to really shopping list the accomplishments of the educated mind that have benefited mankind, red, white and blue mankind, in particular, since that day one, dawn of time we mentioned earlier.
How about just a quick greatest hits? (And because I've got a few minutes but don't want to be at this all day, these are just some of the greatest hits of the 20th Century).
The medical technology that has given us antibiotics, starting with, say, penicillin, that have kept you or a loved one from dying an unnecessary death; vaccines that have prevented you or a loved one from contracting anyone of a number of diseases that could kill you sooner rather than later; the development of x-rays, allowing doctors to find afflictions and diseases and treat them to prolong your life; advanced cancer treatments; by-pass surgery that could give you ten to fifty years more of a life that a simple heart attack would have ended not so long ago.
The electronics technology that has given us computers that do all the amazing things that computers do and, if absolutely nothing else, keep you entertained, in contact and informed with that Marlboro Longs sized computer that you have in your hand probably most hours of every day.
And how about a couple of real biggies?
Sending man to the moon and back again safely. And that was fifty years ago.
Not your idea of a BFD?
Okay, how about the development of the atomic bomb which, historians agree, most likely gave the Allies the last victory they would need to end World War II...and made it possible for those of you who turn all hostile when somebody in your earshot doesn't "talk 'Murican" to never have to talk Japanese...or German...yourselves?
The airplane. As much a way of life now as sunrise and sunset.
Still not getting it?
Let's get basic, baby.
How about the automobile?
How about your Chevy Silverado?
There you go.
The thing about all those things, meanwhile? In one way or another, to one extent or another, every one of the ideas and/or implementations of those accomplishments, and all the other thousands and thousands of other advancements in our lives, were both encouraged...and rejected....accepted with thanks in celebration....and mocked, denigrated, resisted, even refused.
Two groups. Educated. Uneducated.
Pop quiz. Which group celebrated? Which group denigrated?
Really, if you're even having to think about it for a second. Really?
Which brings us to the here and now and what and why of today's commentary.
Think of education, the pursuit of it, the acquisition of it, the implementation of it in our respective day to day as a beautiful, crystal clear, fast and free flowing stream of hydration of the mind, even nourishment, making that mind healthier and more efficient and more productive and, as an inevitable result, making our homes and our neighborhoods and our towns and our cities and...say it with me...our country....better.
Safer.
More productive.
More efficient.
More compassionate.
More human,
Just....more.
Somewhere along the timeline, truth be told, in the not very distant past, somebody poisoned the stream.
The monkeys took over the zoo.
The inmates commandeered the asylum.
Pick a metaphor, any metaphor.
Education became the enemy. I would have said enemy of the people, but, oops, sorry, that label has already been checked out and assigned to the free press.
To know, know, know too much about anything was suddenly a threat to the well being of hard working, God fearing Americans who passionately believed, and believe, that they've got all they need to live a full, rich, hard working God fearing American life by having a house, a job, a Sunday service, a God to pray to...and Fox News.
And no good can come, those folks say and believe, from all that libtard, snoflake, Commie soaked extreme leftist bullshit being shoveled out in those "institutions of higher learning". Cause we ain't fooled for a second. We all know what goes on in those classrooms, those lecture halls, those campus auditoriums.
You know what? You're right. There's a whole lot goes on in those classrooms...and lecture halls and auditoriums.
Young minds are being taught. And young minds are learning. And young minds are already dreaming of what's next.
The next antibiotic. The next vaccine. The next life saving surgery.
The next computer that will make lives more productive, more efficient, more effective.
The next mission. Mars, maybe? Neptune? How about that planet we don't even know about yet?
Young minds are taught and they learn and they dream and they theorize and they invent and they implement and civilization inches just a little further out of the darkness.
And the un-educated?
They still pronounce antibiotics and vaccines and surgeries as voodoo.
They still think that Satan is moving toward victory one Tweet at a time (well, on that one we could have a fun conversation, but, not now)
They still believe that if God had meant us to be on the moon or Mars or Neptune, He would have put us there.
All the while clueless to the truth that that's exactly what God did. And does.
By giving us the opportunity to be taught....and learn.....to be...educated.
Educated enough to save lives, communicate more effectively, travel more safely and efficiently.
And even find the wisdom, patience and compassion to make every effort to drag the un-educated amongst us along with us as we inch civilization forward.
Just like we always have.
Just like we always will.
Because we've been blessed with the gift of realizing what a spectacular gift has been offered us in this life with three words.
That many, if not most, think of only as a familiar catchphrase.
When those three words are, in fact, the secret instructions to a mortal life of accomplishment without limit.
Live....
...and learn.
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