Last of Our Kind

When I first watched Schindler’s List I remember having a discussion about why the Holocaust happened, or rather, why it was allowed to happen. We spoke about silence. While the Holocaust was happening the whole world was watching. They were watching in silence, and their silence gave consent. No one stood up and said “This is wrong. This must be stopped.” Once we did it was too late and millions of people had already been murdered. It is for this reason, the inability to act, that the whole world is ashamed of themselves for this moment in history.

Now, I always thought that there was a certain line in politics that was never crossed. There was the old ad from the 60’s with the nuclear bomb and the little girl, which went too far. People are (rightly so) scolded for using Osama bin Laden and references to 9/11 in ads. Now maybe I’m too naïve, but I always thought that Hitler and the Holocaust were also off limits.

Then I read this:

“A new e-mail making the rounds among Jewish voters in Pennsylvania this week...equated a vote for Senator Barack Obama with the “tragic mistake” of their Jewish ancestors, who ‘ignored the warning signs in the 1930’s and 1940’s.’”

I recently saw a piece on CNN talking about our failing education systems. It got me thinking. Why are we so far behind the rest of the world, and what are we going to do about it?

In 2007 the USA failed to make the top ten in reading, mathematics, and science. That is shameful. The blame I feel lands with the public education system. Why are our students falling so far behind from the rest of the world?

Some may say it is the faults of the teachers, but with teachers unions being such a force to be reckoned with can we just fire all the “bad” teachers? And how do we define “bad” teachers?

Some would like to say that No Child Left Behind was a good thing. These people would argue that having standardized tests for children every year really allows us to raise the bar and to see which children are struggling, so we can make sure they catch up and therefore are not left behind.

However, the problem is that students are taught the tests. Period. Teachers are no longer allowed to create their own curriculums. They are not allowed to give much input to what they teach their students, and who knows these students (and more importantly the backgrounds and even neighborhoods) better than their teachers.

I feel it is important to challenge our teachers. We should give them more responsibility. Senator Obama said something around, “If we ask more from our teachers we can expect more.” We must challenge our teachers and reward our teachers.

There has to be a way to find out which teachers are getting the job done. There has to be a way to find out what their secrets are. Not all of our students are failing, but there is a problem somewhere and we have to fix it.

I believe we need more funding for education. We need more money for preschools. Studies have shown that children who know their alphabet before starting kindergarten do better later. Preschool is a great start, but without proper funding they will not work.

We need more teachers in the classrooms so that we can create smaller classrooms and focus more on students. The main problem here (and everyone knows it) is that teachers are not paid enough at all. There is something wrong in this country when CEOs and movie stars and athletes are paid millions upon millions of dollars every year, but our teachers struggle to survive with many moonlighting at night just to get by.

We need to strongly encourage every student to want to go to college, and help them achieve that goal by making it affordable. I feel Senator Obama’s plan to give each student a $4,000 credit per semester is a fantastic idea. Some may argue that this is government providing education, one step closer to Socialism. However, Senator Obama is not giving these students this money with no strings attached; they must earn this money by working in their community, etc.

We have to raise the educational bar in this country. I believe (and call me crazy) we can achieve higher standards by asking for higher standards. If we push for better teachers, and better schools we will get better students. We will get better futures.

This is a call to action. We can not fail. We must not fail.

I am officially disgusted with Congressional Democrats.

Recently, in case you didn’t hear, congress passed legislation that allows offshore drilling. That’s right, the majority crumbled to the minority. To the crazy people who chant "DRILL BABY DRILL.” The party in power succumbed to the powerless. When they should have showed strength and stood for something they believe in, they buckled at the knees and showed how weak they are.

I'm mad because they tried to sugar coat this legislation with rules surrounding the drilling. One rule states that all drilling has to be beyond 50 miles of the shore. I suppose this won’t harm the ocean and sea life and everything else in the water because after 50 miles, there is nothing to harm…?

Another rule says the each state has to approve their want to drill. This sounds like a great idea. Suppose a drill project, let’s say done by Florida causes pollution and/or damage to the environment around Florida. What happens when that damage and or pollution moves towards Georgia, who doesn’t want offshore drilling? Who fixes that problem?

Congress also included in this bill the repealing of oil companies’ tax breaks, in order to use that money for renewable energy resources. That’s great, but couldn’t this have been the focus of the law without allowing off shore drilling?

I am angry because I truly believe that drilling is not the answer. It is the problem. For years now we (including President Bush) have talked about our addiction to oil. I know Bush doesn’t care about this (since he in fact wants more drilling) but I thought that the Democrats (including Obama, who is even for drilling now) were against drilling as a part of their platform. I thought they truly wanted to break our addiction and FOCUS on more important, renewable energies.

And are we supposed to just forget the fact that the oil companies already have acres and acres of land both offshore and on land that they are free to drill, but don’t. They want MORE because they truly believe they will be able to get enough out of our shores to make a difference.

They won’t.

Drilling will not lower the price of gas. Drilling will not lower the cost of a barrel of oil, and everyone knows that. Not using oil will lower the price of gas and the price of a barrel of oil. What drilling does do is affect the environment. Offshore drilling will also waste money that (if the oil companies are right in their commercials I see) should be spent on solar, wind, and other renewable energies.

If we want to build energy rigs in the ocean why not use the power of the waves. Where is that in this legislation? Where is the opposition against a party that is in the pocket of big oil? Where is the stand that opposes the raping of the earth, the stand that I thought my party stood for?

Remember this day as the day the crazies started winning.

Somehow the leaders I have rooted for have let me down.

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but America has forgotten the importance of talk.

One would believe the explosion of the internet in the 90’s that in fact led to the flattening of the world and by cause and effect brought us closer together to exchange thoughts and ideas would have led to more and more conversation worldwide. One would hope that the rise of cell phones would make it easier to connect to everyone and anyone in an all digital age.

We can call, text, blog, vlog, e-mail, youtube, IM, skype, MySpace, and Google from the highest mountain tops to the lowest valleys and everywhere in between (including rocket ships in space and submarines underwater).

But somewhere in this world of constant information we forgot what it meant to simply talk to one another. We have gotten so used to short one word answers that conversation has become a thing of the past.

I recently read an article about the decline of talk therapy during visits between doctors and patients in psychiatry (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26011514/). This article goes on to speak about the rise of pills causing the decline, which is true without a doubt. However, it misses the big issue that people nowadays believe they simply do not have the time to sit down and discuss their problems anymore. In a time where we have more than enough gadgets to save time, we waste time. We waste time trying to be know-it- alls. In this world of instant information a patient can Google his symptoms and get instant gratification by telling his doctor what pill he needs to continue his day without missing a beat.

The big picture here I feel is dire. We as human beings have problems. We get stressed out. We get upset at little things e.g. Starbucks was out of whip cream today. We get upset about big things e.g. Oil is $120 a barrel (or for some the big problem may be Starbucks running out of whip cream). The point is talking to people is a way to help rid ourselves of these worries. Perhaps the person we share our feelings with has the same worries, and perhaps the two of you find a third, and a fourth, and heavens forbid you actually start a movement to get more whip cream at Starbucks—Err to lower the price of oil.

As I said before the world is flatter now than ever before, let’s take this opportunity to look out across the horizon and talk to each other. It’s more powerful than you think.

Got something on your chest? Feel free to comment…