Upstander Reflections

The day before the Inauguration, I walked through Arlington Cemetery with a group of students. There was so much controversy in the air with Trump’s pending presidency that it seemed like every person walking through the grounds that day was on edge. Trump supporters were there in droves with their “Make America Great Again” hats on. As a group of mostly brown skinned people, it was difficult to walk past them. No words were exchanged, but our students felt like those hats sent a clear message: those people did not like them.   Nevertheless, there we all were, walking those hallowed grounds. Why? To pay our respects to the men and women who fought to defend our great nation. We had that in common, so one may ask, “what had divided us?” Why would two groups of Americans feel animosity towards one another--in a cemetery of all places? My answer: we have lost our identity. I think it’s safe to say that, right now, America is having an identity crisis. We don’t know who we are. Wh...

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Buddha Currently, I feel like I live in three worlds. World 1: with my family. World 2: at school. World 3: in the news media. World 1 and 2 are very familiar to me; I’ve always lived in them, but world 3 is new. I’ve consistently kept up with current events. It’s an interest of mine and, as a World Studies teacher, it’s part of my job. However, I don’t think it consumed enough of my thoughts to be considered its own “world.” It simply lived in the other two. However, since I went to the inauguration, it has carved out its own “world” in my consciousness.     My guess is that I’m not alone in this. What’s happening in our country right now is abnormal. We have a president with no political experience, and his first 17 weeks have played out rather dramatically. It’s kind of like watching a train wreck that we can’t look away from. It seems like every time we try to look away another car careen...

I try to make this blog about people and not politics, but this week made it tough. It’s kind of a big deal when a president fires the FBI director, especially when that FBI director is the head of an investigation that involves the president. I would like to talk about this because, wherever your loyalties lie, you must admit it has been an historic week. As this week labored to its end, I kept coming back to two age old phrases I remember from my childhood. I don’t remember who said the first one the most, but I think it was probably my dad. When there was a conflict between people, it would often come up that one should “not burn any bridges.” The second one was uttered often by my neighbor, Mrs. Reutter. When people were thinking about things too far into the future she would say, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” For some reason, the events of this week got me thinking about bridges.   “Don’t burn bridges.” I do not know the inner workings of our current p...

Before superheroes become "super," they always face two problems. Problem 1: They must somehow realize that they have the power. Problem 2: Even after receiving their power, they still need to learn how to hone it. It’s no surprise to me that comic book writers gave these problems to superheroes, because us humans have the same problems. We all have the same superpower, we struggle to realize it, and, once we realize it, we don’t know how to use it. What is it? Love. Love is our superpower.   It’s the greatest superpower of all. There is no Kryptonite for it. If used properly, It cannot be defeated. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) knew it: Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. -Buddha Jesus Knew it: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. -Jesus Confucius Knew it: Love others as you would love yourself -Confucius Muhammad knew it: You will not complete your fait...

Dear French Voters, Bonjour! It’s me, your old friend, the American voter. Long time no write. I’ve been thinking a lot about us lately, so I decided to write you a letter. After all, we’re the ones that started this whole “democratic republic” thing.   So many memories. Heck, if it wasn’t for you guys, we still might be part of Great Britain, ruled by a king! Can you imagine that? Your Enlightenment thinkers like Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and so many others were the architects of both our revolutions. Those were challenging times but we both pulled though. You guys had our back when we fought off the Brits, and man we were cheering for you as you stormed the Bastille. Vive la République! This whole “democratic republic” thing has not been easy. We’ve both had our missteps and learning curves. It took us a while to realize that ALL the people in our nation deserve the rights we set aside in the “Bill of Rights,” and you guys struggled with the whole col...

13 weeks ago, I walked through the National Mall on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration and I was moved by the juxtaposition of the political climate and the monuments. Words from FDR, MLK Jr. and JFK spoke directly to me and contradicted the words that I was hearing from the soon-to-be president. I was bewildered as I led 24 students though that experience. In the past two weeks, an image from that trip has reappeared in my head. It is an image I photographed late on the night of January 18th. We were just finishing the long day that gave me the inspiration to start this blog, and it is literally the last picture I took that day.         Korean War Memorial Washington DC January 18, 2017 On that day, I was not concerned about North Korea. I’m not really sure why I took the picture. Maybe it was because my wife’s grandfather fought in the Korean War, or maybe it was just because those soldiers looked so ominous. Their faces were tired...

I had a pretty normal week. I went to work. I hung out with my family. That’s about it. Nothing special. Weeks like this come and go and most the time I don’t give them much thought. However, now that I am writing this blog, I have become more reflective. As I thought about the week, I found myself focusing on little things that annoyed me. Isn’t it funny how we do this? Instead of thinking about all the good things, we think about all the bad things--and they aren’t even bad! They are just “normal.” Here’s a vague list of things that annoyed me this week. You can play, too. Check off the ones that annoyed you.   ⃞ The weather. ⃞ Traffic or a commute.   ⃞ Something or someone’s actions at work. ⃞ Something or someone’s actions in my family. ⃞ Some minor illness or minor pain. ⃞ Money or lack thereof. ⃞ Some sort of bureaucracy (government, insurance company, etc…). ⃞ Other. How many did you get? Eight out of eight? Seven? Six? If less than six, good for ...