Prescription for Peace
Earl J. Prignitz
December 02, 2006
I was deeply impressed by an article I read by Douglas Soderstrom, called, "A Prescription For Peace -- Teaching Tommy In An Era Of Fascism." In it he proposes that we teach our children the necessary character, even the wisdom, to realize these 21 points:
1. Every human being is sacred, that nothing is of greater value than protecting the right for everyone to be treated with respect, regardless of one's sex, race, status, economic condition, creed, color, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation.
2. Each and every human being is first, and foremost, a valued member of the human family, and then, and only then, a citizen of any particular nation; and that reversing the aforementioned order will, without exception, distort one's relationship with his fellowman, leading to an increased likelihood of mutual misunderstanding, conflict, and -- in the long run -- war.
3. Peace is a far better thing than war, so each of us, as human beings, has a moral responsibility to use our energy and talents to move the world toward peace, love, and justice, and thus away from war, hate, and injustice.
4. Hisorical truth is a far better thing than myths and lies. From the very beginning our country has been enmeshed in violence. First, we went to war with the British Empire; then a near-genocidal attempt to destroy the American Indian, the original inhabitants of our country; accompanied by a centuries-long exploitation of the Black race.
5. Our country has a time-honored tradition of conflict with a multitude of other nations: threatening to destroy our adversaries (nations unwilling to align themselves with our interests) through the use of an arsenal of deadly (including nuclear) weapons; participating in the overthrow of numerous popularly-elected governments unwilling to abide by our rules; demanding that other countries grant us the "right" to exploit their natural resources in order to maintain our own standard of living; covertly involved in the trafficking of drugs around the world; assassinates foreign leaders, aids terrorists, and supports "death squads"; has committed a multitude of crimes against humanity; allows the CIA, an organization much like the Mafia, to terrorize the world; kidnaps suspects and tortures prisoners; imprisons more of its own people than any other country in the world; is the only nation in the West that kills it's own people through the use of the death penalty; is an international pariah, a true rogue state, that refuses to work with the rest of the world to resolve the problems confronting humanity; a long history of aligning itself with a vicious assortment of dictators, tyrants, and despots who are willing to do our bidding at the expense of their own people; and increasingly resembles the fascist movement of Hitler in his attempt to take over the world.
6. Our capitalist economic system assumes: that self-interest (exclusive concern for one's own family and personal welfare) is an undeniable good; that extreme greed can (and perhaps even should) be tolerated; that one ought to be allowed (and perhaps even encouraged) to make as much money as possible; that the right to own property is inalienable; that equality (the relatively equal distribution of goods among folks) is, for the most part, of little or no value. Contrastingly, we ought to teach our youth that plutocratic capitalism, as an politico-economic arrangement, is in no way preferable to democratic socialism, which cherishes a relatively high degree of equality amongst its citizens (the right for everyone to share in, and to have access to, "the basics of life").
Democratic socialism also encourages individuals to overcome the temptation to be indolent and/or unproductive by mandating that each person has a moral responsibility to share with others, as indicated by: Karl Marx's aphorism, "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"; the early Christian communitarian expectation that each of us will share his or her belongings with others; the prophet Jesus' advice (Mark 10:17-27) to "the Rich Young Ruler" concerning what must be done to be saved, in order to inherit eternal life ("Go and sell all of your possessions, and give the proceeds to the poor, and then, and only then, will it be possible for you to be saved"). However, since the Rich Young Ruler had great possessions, he (like many of us no doubt would do) chose to leave with a saddened heart. Much like those "camels of antiquity," it is a very difficult thing for wealthy moderns, with all of their money, to humble themselves to the point of crawling on bare knees through the proverbial "eye of a needle!"
7. From the very beginning, the United States has been a class-based society in which the government, for all practical purposes, has served the interests of the rich, who force it to merely tolerate the poor, while allowing the middle class, who happen to work for a living (sometimes referred to as "wage slaves"), to remain eternally nervous due to a deeply-ingrained fear of losing their jobs, thus enabling the many workers to be controlled by the few plutocrats (the folks with seemingly little, or no, concern for those at the bottom levels of society), and affording the downtrodden poor, people of color, the indigent homeless, others "down on their luck," and mentally-ill people we have cruelly abandoned (like war veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), little or no opportunity to make it, much less make it to the top, no matter how hard they try.
8. The USA, as well as Israel, have, without question, become the most hated nations in the world due to their eagerness to go to war, and their apparent willingness to plunder and pillage other lands. Moreover, President George Walker Bush has become the most hated man on Earth, due to having formulated a preemptive-war military policy (which asserts a "right" to destroy any nation threatening our "right" to control the world) paired with a bellicose foreign policy that shows very little respect for other nations.
9. The citizens of our country ought to be ashamed of having allowed the phrase, "In God We Trust," to have been placed upon our coins, which are the very emblem of an insatiable craving to consume, even to devour, more and more things, and of a sanctimoniously hypocritical tendency to say one thing but to do another. It is historical fact is that our nation has, for all practical purposes, never really placed its faith in God, but rather in something much far more tangible: an unrestrained "need" to generate ever more personal wealth and an increasingly-large gross national product, whilst these individual and corporate assets are protected by a huge arsenal and a military ready and willing to destroy any nation audacious enough to interfere.
10. Organized religion has become an astonishing-ly-complex problem for nearly every nation because, along with the good, it is rather evident that religion has become one of the primary, if not THE primary, cause of war, mayhem, and violent death. Hence, it would be much better if individuals were less inclined to be religious, less inclined to regard themselves as sectarian "masters of the universe," folks so ethnocentrically predisposed that they seem to have little doubt that they have received the "divine right" to determine who will go to Heaven versus who needs to be punished in Hell, people so terribly arrogant that their lot in life would be much improved if they were willing to relinquish such pietistic religiosity, and replace it with something much more genuine, such as an authentic interest in serving the legitimate needs of the human family.
11. The universal rights of citizens are, as indicated in the American Bill of Rights, intrinsic in natural law. However, such rights were not given to the people, but rather have always been earned, essentially taken from the firm grip of a government never inclined to give freedom to its people, either through the power of the law or through an unrelenting willingness of folks to engage in acts of civil disobedience. This historical truth suggests that teachers have a responsibility to make sure that students not only understand the principles of civil disobedience, but also have an extended opportunity to learn how to implement (i.e., to carry out in an effective and efficient manner) well-intentioned acts of civil disobedience.
12. It is important that one be honest, which means honesty with God, oneself, and others, so one can: summon the courage to be a truthteller; realize that veracity must not be compromised; recognize that the most dangerous thing one can do is to tell the truth, to say and write that which nobody wants to hear, and yet be a resolutely willing maverick (even a whistleblower) who can be counted on to tell the truth regardless of the consequences.
13. It is important that one be a man or woman of integrity, a person who is governed by one's conscience, the rudder of one's soul, that which: empowers the human spirit; impels an individual to live in such a way that one's values affirm the sacredness of life; directs an individual to treat others in the same manner that one would like to be treated oneself (The Golden Rule); creates an empathic resolve to see that "the least of us" is always treated with respect, which is a pre-condition for self-respect.
14. It is important that one have humility, which is an inner power manifested by those who understand that they are no better than anyone else, a rather calm and unpretentious realization that one's accomplishments are of no special significance, and the only known cure for those who are shackled by the terrible chains of conceit so central to arrogance.
15. It is important that one have the faith to doubt, which is a simple recognition that no human being has "a direct pipeline to God," that no one can authoritatively tell another what he or she must believe, that no human being -- like it or not -- has the capacity to fully comprehend "the truth of God," that one has no choice but to face the reality of "ontological uncertainty" (the fact that the perfect knowledge of God is necessarily "off limits" to man), that although one has an existential responsibility to search for truth, one must do so realizing that what is searched for will never (and can never) be found absolutely, which leaves one with little choice but to accept the fact that whatever truth one is able to find will be contingent, and that increasing degrees of knowledge will emerge only if one has the fearlessness to question anything and everything (e.g., God, church/pastor, synagogue/rabbi, mosque/imam, temple/priest, ashram/guru, parents, nation, the law, society, others, but -- most importantly -- oneself).
Nothing should be taken for granted. Skepticism (the willingness to question) should rule the day. Answers, in and of themselves, are of little value, whereas the great questions of life represent the engine that drives knowledge forward. If one is to muster the courage to search for increasing degrees of truth, it is essential that one appreciate the perilously-contingent nature of such a journey, realize that such a trek requires the courage of one's convictions, a healthy respect for reason, the sureness of self, and the existential capacity to confront "the incredible incomprehensibility of eternity."
16. It is important that one become intellectually self-reliant, and that one develop the critical reasoning skills necessary for self-governance, which means that one must develop the capacity to think things out for oneself, accompanied by a firm resolution that one must never allow oneself to become a servile slave of the status quo, that one must resist the temptation to go along with the crowd like a lemming, to be a craven conformist, "a good ole boy," a team player, a sycophant, an organization man.
17. It is important that one develop the resilient power of the human spirit -- that tenacious, absolutely-indefeasible willingness to defy oppression by overcoming any and all odds, that inexorable unwillingness to allow anything or anyone to "keep one down," that ontological resolve from the core of one's being to surmount the "tough times of life," that courageous commitment to respond to tragedy by saying "yes to life."
18. It is important that one find meaning in life, an ontological reason for which to live, an existential willingness to move beyond the superficial pleasures of life such as the hedonistic pursuit of money, power, reputation, status, success, and the acquisition of things. One should make an effort to acquire a transpersonal interest, which is a willingness to devote one's life to something greater than oneself, a resolve to live one's life for God, for one's children, for a beneficent cause (such as Martin Luther King's commitment to civil rights), or perhaps even to a less-frequently-trodden career path that might enable one to serve the best interests of humankind.
19. It is important that one develop an empathic concern for others, the willingness to place oneself "in the shoes" of another person, the capacity to view the world from the perspective of folks who are unlike oneself (even people in a foreign nation), a resolve to overcome the narrow-minded confines of one's own cultural conditioning -- especially when it demands that we glorify the deeds of our own nation, while simultaneously damning those of our "enemy," and especially when it imposes a blind presumption that our nation is always right, whereas our enemy is, without question, always wrong.
We must overcome our cultural programming that has taught us: to live our lives according to the Lex Talionis, the Law of Retribution, the primitive ethos of revenge (red in tooth and claw); that there is nothing wrong with hating one's enemy; that during a time of war we should be proud of a willingness to kill the enemy; that any effort to place ourselves in the shoes of an enemy (to want to understand, and therefore forgive, him as a human being who is in no way different from ourselves) has become falsely equated with being an apostate, a turncoat, a traitor, a disloyal American collaborator with the enemy. This profoundly-ignorant ethnocentric arrogance is so deeply ingrained by propaganda that we, as citizens, seem to be left with little choice but to follow the Machiavellian edict to simply "do away with" those we have been taught to hate.
20. It is important that we develop an appreciation for the unavoidable reality of death, the fact that each and everyone of us will one day die, an existential reminder that if we are to be good stewards of our lives, we must live each day as if it was our last day on Earth, that we have only a limited amount of time to get done "what must be done," so we must take seriously the imperative that we live a good and decent life, for without such an inclination, we will certainly miss the mark, miss the existential responsibility to make the most of our lives.
21. Finally, it is necessary that we comprehend our responsibility to posterity, to future generations, to those who will populate the planet once we die. We must respect life itself with true reverence. We must honor and respect the needs of those who will follow in our footsteps, and be willing to defend the Earth from the awful onslaught of the crass consumer culture's materialistic "progress." We, as a people, must be willing to live with less things, so that we may put an end to the dangerous practice of plundering and pillaging our planet, with a realistic understanding that anything less than this may well lead to the decimation -- perhaps even the annihilation -- of the human race.
Clearly then, a partisan approach to teaching merely results in children having little choice but to believe what they have been told, to accept what has more-or-less been collectively "crammed down their throats," which effectively deprives them of an opportunity to know "the facts" -- the facts, of course, being the essential ingredients, the indispensable bedrock, of truth.
Even though Christians (primarily the fundamen-talists on the religious right) have done a great deal to muddy the "waters of truth," the prophet Jesus (in John 8:32) promised that "the truth will set us free." Jesus meant that an awareness of the facts, an informed understanding of the way things are, a thorough "sifting of the wheat from the chaff," will provide a solid foundation from which to launch the search for truth, and give us a progressive opportunity to figure out what should be discarded, what should be retained, and what must be added, so our youth might be educated in an objective and honest manner.
Rather than allowing ourselves to be filled with fear -- the fear of losing our jobs, the fear that someone might be upset by what we say or do -- let's reverse course. Why not strive to "upset a few apple carts," strive to teach the things that nobody wants to hear, actually demonstrate the courage of our convictions, and risk the consequences of telling students "the truth"? Otherwise, if we choose not to do such a thing, we will be forced to face the fact that we have become "partners in crime," willing participants who have chosen to lead our sons and daughters straight down the "fascist road to ruin" -- the road of ignorant arrogance which leads to inhumanity, war, and death.
Thus, we must demand more of ourselves: that we teach our students "the truth"; that we teach each and every side of each and every issue; that we enable students to transcend the bondage of personal and collective bias; that we move them beyond their self-inclined willingness to bask in the twilight of social and cultural ignorance.
We must demand of ourselves that we do our best to set our people free from their mind-forged manacles, the shackles of a fascistic self and
society, in order that we might one day thirst after righteousness, that we might be more inclined to love God, our neighbor, and perhaps even our enemy, thus placing us on the firmest ground -- the freshly-prepared path of peace that leads to the promised land of life, liberty, and justice, not only for us but for all humankind.
No doubt that is something for all of us to onsider, since it concerns the fate of our very own children, and those of the next generation, who will one day inherit the future, and thus govern our nation.
Accordingly, it is imperative that we ask who will be most morally qualified to, and most pragmatically capable of, taking the reigns of leadership: statesmen eager to build a true democracy committed to peace, love, and justice; or another bunch of thugs anxiously awaiting their turn to rule the world with "shock and awe" so they can turn a profit from their most recently-developed weapons of death?
I hope you understand why I am impressed!
1. Every human being is sacred, that nothing is of greater value than protecting the right for everyone to be treated with respect, regardless of one's sex, race, status, economic condition, creed, color, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation.
2. Each and every human being is first, and foremost, a valued member of the human family, and then, and only then, a citizen of any particular nation; and that reversing the aforementioned order will, without exception, distort one's relationship with his fellowman, leading to an increased likelihood of mutual misunderstanding, conflict, and -- in the long run -- war.
3. Peace is a far better thing than war, so each of us, as human beings, has a moral responsibility to use our energy and talents to move the world toward peace, love, and justice, and thus away from war, hate, and injustice.
4. Hisorical truth is a far better thing than myths and lies. From the very beginning our country has been enmeshed in violence. First, we went to war with the British Empire; then a near-genocidal attempt to destroy the American Indian, the original inhabitants of our country; accompanied by a centuries-long exploitation of the Black race.
5. Our country has a time-honored tradition of conflict with a multitude of other nations: threatening to destroy our adversaries (nations unwilling to align themselves with our interests) through the use of an arsenal of deadly (including nuclear) weapons; participating in the overthrow of numerous popularly-elected governments unwilling to abide by our rules; demanding that other countries grant us the "right" to exploit their natural resources in order to maintain our own standard of living; covertly involved in the trafficking of drugs around the world; assassinates foreign leaders, aids terrorists, and supports "death squads"; has committed a multitude of crimes against humanity; allows the CIA, an organization much like the Mafia, to terrorize the world; kidnaps suspects and tortures prisoners; imprisons more of its own people than any other country in the world; is the only nation in the West that kills it's own people through the use of the death penalty; is an international pariah, a true rogue state, that refuses to work with the rest of the world to resolve the problems confronting humanity; a long history of aligning itself with a vicious assortment of dictators, tyrants, and despots who are willing to do our bidding at the expense of their own people; and increasingly resembles the fascist movement of Hitler in his attempt to take over the world.
6. Our capitalist economic system assumes: that self-interest (exclusive concern for one's own family and personal welfare) is an undeniable good; that extreme greed can (and perhaps even should) be tolerated; that one ought to be allowed (and perhaps even encouraged) to make as much money as possible; that the right to own property is inalienable; that equality (the relatively equal distribution of goods among folks) is, for the most part, of little or no value. Contrastingly, we ought to teach our youth that plutocratic capitalism, as an politico-economic arrangement, is in no way preferable to democratic socialism, which cherishes a relatively high degree of equality amongst its citizens (the right for everyone to share in, and to have access to, "the basics of life").
Democratic socialism also encourages individuals to overcome the temptation to be indolent and/or unproductive by mandating that each person has a moral responsibility to share with others, as indicated by: Karl Marx's aphorism, "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"; the early Christian communitarian expectation that each of us will share his or her belongings with others; the prophet Jesus' advice (Mark 10:17-27) to "the Rich Young Ruler" concerning what must be done to be saved, in order to inherit eternal life ("Go and sell all of your possessions, and give the proceeds to the poor, and then, and only then, will it be possible for you to be saved"). However, since the Rich Young Ruler had great possessions, he (like many of us no doubt would do) chose to leave with a saddened heart. Much like those "camels of antiquity," it is a very difficult thing for wealthy moderns, with all of their money, to humble themselves to the point of crawling on bare knees through the proverbial "eye of a needle!"
7. From the very beginning, the United States has been a class-based society in which the government, for all practical purposes, has served the interests of the rich, who force it to merely tolerate the poor, while allowing the middle class, who happen to work for a living (sometimes referred to as "wage slaves"), to remain eternally nervous due to a deeply-ingrained fear of losing their jobs, thus enabling the many workers to be controlled by the few plutocrats (the folks with seemingly little, or no, concern for those at the bottom levels of society), and affording the downtrodden poor, people of color, the indigent homeless, others "down on their luck," and mentally-ill people we have cruelly abandoned (like war veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), little or no opportunity to make it, much less make it to the top, no matter how hard they try.
8. The USA, as well as Israel, have, without question, become the most hated nations in the world due to their eagerness to go to war, and their apparent willingness to plunder and pillage other lands. Moreover, President George Walker Bush has become the most hated man on Earth, due to having formulated a preemptive-war military policy (which asserts a "right" to destroy any nation threatening our "right" to control the world) paired with a bellicose foreign policy that shows very little respect for other nations.
9. The citizens of our country ought to be ashamed of having allowed the phrase, "In God We Trust," to have been placed upon our coins, which are the very emblem of an insatiable craving to consume, even to devour, more and more things, and of a sanctimoniously hypocritical tendency to say one thing but to do another. It is historical fact is that our nation has, for all practical purposes, never really placed its faith in God, but rather in something much far more tangible: an unrestrained "need" to generate ever more personal wealth and an increasingly-large gross national product, whilst these individual and corporate assets are protected by a huge arsenal and a military ready and willing to destroy any nation audacious enough to interfere.
10. Organized religion has become an astonishing-ly-complex problem for nearly every nation because, along with the good, it is rather evident that religion has become one of the primary, if not THE primary, cause of war, mayhem, and violent death. Hence, it would be much better if individuals were less inclined to be religious, less inclined to regard themselves as sectarian "masters of the universe," folks so ethnocentrically predisposed that they seem to have little doubt that they have received the "divine right" to determine who will go to Heaven versus who needs to be punished in Hell, people so terribly arrogant that their lot in life would be much improved if they were willing to relinquish such pietistic religiosity, and replace it with something much more genuine, such as an authentic interest in serving the legitimate needs of the human family.
11. The universal rights of citizens are, as indicated in the American Bill of Rights, intrinsic in natural law. However, such rights were not given to the people, but rather have always been earned, essentially taken from the firm grip of a government never inclined to give freedom to its people, either through the power of the law or through an unrelenting willingness of folks to engage in acts of civil disobedience. This historical truth suggests that teachers have a responsibility to make sure that students not only understand the principles of civil disobedience, but also have an extended opportunity to learn how to implement (i.e., to carry out in an effective and efficient manner) well-intentioned acts of civil disobedience.
12. It is important that one be honest, which means honesty with God, oneself, and others, so one can: summon the courage to be a truthteller; realize that veracity must not be compromised; recognize that the most dangerous thing one can do is to tell the truth, to say and write that which nobody wants to hear, and yet be a resolutely willing maverick (even a whistleblower) who can be counted on to tell the truth regardless of the consequences.
13. It is important that one be a man or woman of integrity, a person who is governed by one's conscience, the rudder of one's soul, that which: empowers the human spirit; impels an individual to live in such a way that one's values affirm the sacredness of life; directs an individual to treat others in the same manner that one would like to be treated oneself (The Golden Rule); creates an empathic resolve to see that "the least of us" is always treated with respect, which is a pre-condition for self-respect.
14. It is important that one have humility, which is an inner power manifested by those who understand that they are no better than anyone else, a rather calm and unpretentious realization that one's accomplishments are of no special significance, and the only known cure for those who are shackled by the terrible chains of conceit so central to arrogance.
15. It is important that one have the faith to doubt, which is a simple recognition that no human being has "a direct pipeline to God," that no one can authoritatively tell another what he or she must believe, that no human being -- like it or not -- has the capacity to fully comprehend "the truth of God," that one has no choice but to face the reality of "ontological uncertainty" (the fact that the perfect knowledge of God is necessarily "off limits" to man), that although one has an existential responsibility to search for truth, one must do so realizing that what is searched for will never (and can never) be found absolutely, which leaves one with little choice but to accept the fact that whatever truth one is able to find will be contingent, and that increasing degrees of knowledge will emerge only if one has the fearlessness to question anything and everything (e.g., God, church/pastor, synagogue/rabbi, mosque/imam, temple/priest, ashram/guru, parents, nation, the law, society, others, but -- most importantly -- oneself).
Nothing should be taken for granted. Skepticism (the willingness to question) should rule the day. Answers, in and of themselves, are of little value, whereas the great questions of life represent the engine that drives knowledge forward. If one is to muster the courage to search for increasing degrees of truth, it is essential that one appreciate the perilously-contingent nature of such a journey, realize that such a trek requires the courage of one's convictions, a healthy respect for reason, the sureness of self, and the existential capacity to confront "the incredible incomprehensibility of eternity."
16. It is important that one become intellectually self-reliant, and that one develop the critical reasoning skills necessary for self-governance, which means that one must develop the capacity to think things out for oneself, accompanied by a firm resolution that one must never allow oneself to become a servile slave of the status quo, that one must resist the temptation to go along with the crowd like a lemming, to be a craven conformist, "a good ole boy," a team player, a sycophant, an organization man.
17. It is important that one develop the resilient power of the human spirit -- that tenacious, absolutely-indefeasible willingness to defy oppression by overcoming any and all odds, that inexorable unwillingness to allow anything or anyone to "keep one down," that ontological resolve from the core of one's being to surmount the "tough times of life," that courageous commitment to respond to tragedy by saying "yes to life."
18. It is important that one find meaning in life, an ontological reason for which to live, an existential willingness to move beyond the superficial pleasures of life such as the hedonistic pursuit of money, power, reputation, status, success, and the acquisition of things. One should make an effort to acquire a transpersonal interest, which is a willingness to devote one's life to something greater than oneself, a resolve to live one's life for God, for one's children, for a beneficent cause (such as Martin Luther King's commitment to civil rights), or perhaps even to a less-frequently-trodden career path that might enable one to serve the best interests of humankind.
19. It is important that one develop an empathic concern for others, the willingness to place oneself "in the shoes" of another person, the capacity to view the world from the perspective of folks who are unlike oneself (even people in a foreign nation), a resolve to overcome the narrow-minded confines of one's own cultural conditioning -- especially when it demands that we glorify the deeds of our own nation, while simultaneously damning those of our "enemy," and especially when it imposes a blind presumption that our nation is always right, whereas our enemy is, without question, always wrong.
We must overcome our cultural programming that has taught us: to live our lives according to the Lex Talionis, the Law of Retribution, the primitive ethos of revenge (red in tooth and claw); that there is nothing wrong with hating one's enemy; that during a time of war we should be proud of a willingness to kill the enemy; that any effort to place ourselves in the shoes of an enemy (to want to understand, and therefore forgive, him as a human being who is in no way different from ourselves) has become falsely equated with being an apostate, a turncoat, a traitor, a disloyal American collaborator with the enemy. This profoundly-ignorant ethnocentric arrogance is so deeply ingrained by propaganda that we, as citizens, seem to be left with little choice but to follow the Machiavellian edict to simply "do away with" those we have been taught to hate.
20. It is important that we develop an appreciation for the unavoidable reality of death, the fact that each and everyone of us will one day die, an existential reminder that if we are to be good stewards of our lives, we must live each day as if it was our last day on Earth, that we have only a limited amount of time to get done "what must be done," so we must take seriously the imperative that we live a good and decent life, for without such an inclination, we will certainly miss the mark, miss the existential responsibility to make the most of our lives.
21. Finally, it is necessary that we comprehend our responsibility to posterity, to future generations, to those who will populate the planet once we die. We must respect life itself with true reverence. We must honor and respect the needs of those who will follow in our footsteps, and be willing to defend the Earth from the awful onslaught of the crass consumer culture's materialistic "progress." We, as a people, must be willing to live with less things, so that we may put an end to the dangerous practice of plundering and pillaging our planet, with a realistic understanding that anything less than this may well lead to the decimation -- perhaps even the annihilation -- of the human race.
Clearly then, a partisan approach to teaching merely results in children having little choice but to believe what they have been told, to accept what has more-or-less been collectively "crammed down their throats," which effectively deprives them of an opportunity to know "the facts" -- the facts, of course, being the essential ingredients, the indispensable bedrock, of truth.
Even though Christians (primarily the fundamen-talists on the religious right) have done a great deal to muddy the "waters of truth," the prophet Jesus (in John 8:32) promised that "the truth will set us free." Jesus meant that an awareness of the facts, an informed understanding of the way things are, a thorough "sifting of the wheat from the chaff," will provide a solid foundation from which to launch the search for truth, and give us a progressive opportunity to figure out what should be discarded, what should be retained, and what must be added, so our youth might be educated in an objective and honest manner.
Rather than allowing ourselves to be filled with fear -- the fear of losing our jobs, the fear that someone might be upset by what we say or do -- let's reverse course. Why not strive to "upset a few apple carts," strive to teach the things that nobody wants to hear, actually demonstrate the courage of our convictions, and risk the consequences of telling students "the truth"? Otherwise, if we choose not to do such a thing, we will be forced to face the fact that we have become "partners in crime," willing participants who have chosen to lead our sons and daughters straight down the "fascist road to ruin" -- the road of ignorant arrogance which leads to inhumanity, war, and death.
Thus, we must demand more of ourselves: that we teach our students "the truth"; that we teach each and every side of each and every issue; that we enable students to transcend the bondage of personal and collective bias; that we move them beyond their self-inclined willingness to bask in the twilight of social and cultural ignorance.
We must demand of ourselves that we do our best to set our people free from their mind-forged manacles, the shackles of a fascistic self and
society, in order that we might one day thirst after righteousness, that we might be more inclined to love God, our neighbor, and perhaps even our enemy, thus placing us on the firmest ground -- the freshly-prepared path of peace that leads to the promised land of life, liberty, and justice, not only for us but for all humankind.
No doubt that is something for all of us to onsider, since it concerns the fate of our very own children, and those of the next generation, who will one day inherit the future, and thus govern our nation.
Accordingly, it is imperative that we ask who will be most morally qualified to, and most pragmatically capable of, taking the reigns of leadership: statesmen eager to build a true democracy committed to peace, love, and justice; or another bunch of thugs anxiously awaiting their turn to rule the world with "shock and awe" so they can turn a profit from their most recently-developed weapons of death?
I hope you understand why I am impressed!
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