A STONE OF HOPE/in honor of MLK

While I occasionally visit schools to discuss my books, I’ve been out of the classroom for a long time and no longer have the opportunity to offer kids that safe space where a closed door shuts out the noise of the world and together we create our own classroom culture, a place of acceptance, kindness and twizzler moments. (see earlier post ;)

A classroom gradually becomes a kind of family, a unit of shared values and experiences. From the beginning of my teaching career I was aware that what I'd be teaching was far more than important nouns, verbs and how to diagram a sentence. Though I certainly did love diagramming sentences, I always hoped I'd give my students something more essential to remember than proper sentence structure.

I’ve been thinking about classrooms and students a lot lately. Worrying about kids growing up surrounded by the abject cruelty surrounding us. I wish there were something more I could do to help them navigate a world that seems to be crumbling. 

I have faith in teachers, but in many ways their hands are tied. There is no way to talk about our troubled world without talking politics and politics has always been a taboo subject for educators. When I was in the classroom, that made sense. Actions speak louder than words and kids should be able to depend on their own senses to distinguish between what is beneficial for the whole and what is not. What is kind and what is not. What is fair and what is not.

I didn’t realize how much I took for granted. I didn't foresee the ignorance and cruelty of this noisy and terrifying moment.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day, a day set aside to celebrate the great Civil Right’s Leader who dreamed of the time when all of God’s children would be able to proudly sing the words sweet land of liberty.

How did we wander so far from his dream? I remember how my heart swelled when I heard  King’s voice ring out the promise of our democracy, the possibility that hands of every color and voices of every creed would join together, finally crossing into the palace of justice. How did we wander so far from his dream and mine?

Our country— our world is in peril, but Martin Luther King pleaded that we not wallow in the valley of despair. Our lofty American ideals have been betrayed and badly bludgeoned but I hope that those of us who long for freedom and believe in justice continue the struggle for a better world. As many leaders mock rules of law and humanity, I hope young people use their own senses to determine what is beneficial for the whole and what is not. I implore them to use their own eyes and ears to ferret out the truth and, as Martin Luther King said decades ago, to find a way to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.

It’s not a question of politics. It’s a question of truth. It’s a question of morality.