For the Times They are a Changin'

The only thing constant is change, right?

 

Yeah, yeah, whatev. . . as Carly would say.

 

We all do a good job of giving lip service to change, but when the shit hits the fan, that's a different story. 

 

I, for one, am not much of a risk-taker, which translates into I don't like to mix things up too much.

 

 If I'm feeling good just walking around, why would I want to chance that by getting on a roller coaster? If I always get the chicken quesadilla at Q-doba, why take a chance on the bean burrito?

But when you think about it, I'm not sure either of those would qualify as a real change. A radical change, anyway.

I think we've all heard those country songs about "the good ol' days when times were bad." In fact, after watching a marathon of Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons, it's fairly easy for me to romanticize those days. I mean I would seriously love to sleep in a loft and say goodnight to John-Boy -- except, well, when it's really really cold in the loft or I really want a Big Mac instead of the beans Grandma Walton is cooking.

I mean, let's be honest, in terms of political and social position, unless you were a white, rich, straight male, life pretty much sucked, even out there on the prairie or up on Walton's Mountain.

And, if we're talking political/social, maybe, we haven't changed at all. . . when you really think about it, with the exception of a light-skinned black president and a couple of women in positions of power, it's a little deja vu all over again.

I'm starting to think that the change most of us complain about maybe isn't change at all. A new schedule, a new route to get to work, the latest technology, even taking the chance on the bean burrito might be different, but at the most they are nothing more than a very insignificant change.  

More than just an updated cell phone or even a new bridge in the East End of Louisville, maybe what the change we need is a change of heart. A radical change.

Schools and churches are notorious for being behind the times when it comes to those easy changes like technology or structure or schedules. . . and in my experience, they have been just as notorious in complaining loudly to those fairly easy fixes.

What if they were mandated to go big? Radically big?

I wonder what would happen if the teachers in my building were given the following objectives in place of the state's newest academic curriculum.

 This year teachers will:

•  care about their students emotional growth as much as their cognitive growth
• make eye contact with each student every day
• know something non-school related about every student
•  share something about herself with her students
•  forgive
• love
• give second chances 

I've got a feeling that teaching the state's new curriculum would be a piece of cake within the context of those important changes.

Really, maybe everything would work out, if we only changed our hearts because if our hearts are changed nothing else would really matter. . . not even when things needed to change.