Tag: education

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Schooling

I wish that all the formal education I endured through my life had been about learning.

Instead, school was about judgement. You were either an A student or a failure, or worse, mediocre. It was never about learning and growing. The focus was on passing exams, and acing reports.

No one seemed to care if you understood the material presented. No one cared if you could use your brain to solve problems, to discover things yourself.

No one cared what your interests were. You just needed to conform. You were an outcast if you didn’t do things the way they wanted you to. You were a failure.

Students were never developed, they were beaten into submission so they could become adults working as slaves in corporations.

I don’t think much has changed in my life.

Any learning I did was through my own efforts and plenty of hard knocks. A lot of pain could have been avoided if I had of been educated properly.

Schools need to guide minds to think for themselves, to develop their interests and talents and to, get this, have fun doing so. They need to inspire you. To encourage curiosity and develop a life long habit of learning.

My memory of school, including University, is endless, meaningless homework. Assignments on mundane topics. Terrifying three to four hour exams. Continual judgement. Not much, if any, fun. And not much valuable learning. That I got on my own.

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50+

If I had my way, then all women who find themselves in the all too familiar predicament lately of being 50+, divorced or single, unemployed or underemployed, perhaps with some developing health issues, and not much money, would be helped.

Our old way of doing things is coming to an end. Our old ways of getting work and supporting ourselves is changing.

Help would come in the form of transitioning into this new way of being.

Of course, it concerns money. Everything is about money now. And NO it is not about lending money. It is about giving with no expectation of financial payback. Especially with interest. Gee whiz.

What I would like to see is free education for these women, so they can transition into a new way of supporting themselves. They could take higher education and get a new career, develop craftsman skills and apprentice. Be taken in and mentored in a field they would enjoy. There would be money to start a new business, and funding to help supply housing and food while making a transition.

So many women have so much to offer but are being ignored by the traditional way of finding work. These women have to reinvent themselves at a time when it can be most difficult to do so, usually for lack of funds and health issues. Many are caring for aging parents and children returning home.

There is a wealth of experience and knowledge many women have to offer to a world desperately in need of such counselling. We need to find ways to open doors for this knowledge to be tapped and used.

I realize that this is not for everyone, and there should be no pressure for someone to change. However, for those who do want to, then we should make it easy for them to do so, so they can get back out into the world and make a positive contribution. We are wasting a valuable resource when our world is in desperate trouble. A world that needs intelligent and compassionate solutions to enormous problems.

We can no longer rely on or trust our politicians or governments to do the right thing. They have their own selfish agendas and the money seldom wanders far from their own pockets and interests. What needs to be done in the world will have to be done by individuals helping one another. People who will take on the issues that our elected officials and governments are supposed to do and find ways to do it ourselves.

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Actionists

Back in the mid 1980’s I was briefly part of a local group of activists that were at the time protesting the spraying of DDT on bananas.  I never went out to protest myself, but it was a mind blowing education on the chemicals in our food and environment. The leader of this group was often arrested for causing scenes in grocery stores.  It sounds funny now.

In those days, the way to effect change was to protest.  Yell, scream, wave banners and signs and just generally be a nuisance.  There were signed petitions. There were demonstrations.  Sometimes it made a difference, most often, not.  It only served to vent the frustrations of said protesters.

Petitioning the government or corporations was about the only way to make change.  And it seldom worked.

In the past protests were sometimes violent, and today that still holds true.  What did that ever do but get people arrested, hurt or killed? We don’t need violence, we need hands on action.

Demonstrations continue today, with much the same result.

Today, thankfully, many people are making things happen without demonstration.  We are creating change.  We are doing.

Activists need to be Actionists.  This is the only way to get things done.  Roll up your sleeves and get dirty.  Get out in the knee deep wastelands of plastic on beaches and clean it up.  

We have to stop wasting our talents and get out there!

Actionists include those who educate everyone on what is happening in our world.  Leaders that rally people to take action for causes.  The rich who buy medical equipment for hospitals, workers who clean up pollution, thinkers inventing new ways to better our lives (not just new telephones!) 

We need government leaders with balls, who make policy changes and laws that are “take no prisoners” type of legislation to stop pollution, poverty, crime and all our ills, instead of just passing a lot of hot air (and gas),  appeasing big corporations and pharma, and lining their own pockets by supporting their own interests.

My heroes are people like Boyan Slat who do something, quietly, without permission, without protest, without flair, but with passion and purpose.

In my own small way, through this blog, or for some unfortunate few in grocery stores (where I helpfully point out all the poisons in their favourite foods and products and try to persuade them to use something else) I am part of the solution.  I am always amazed at the number of people who are unaware of what they are consuming and using.  I am far from perfect but I try.

You can too.

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Free For All

Because I am a dreamer I believe in free education and health care for everyone (including veterinary care for our animals).  How this could become possible under our current systems, I have no idea, but that does not change my beliefs.

Going through a medical ordeal myself, I see the awesome technology we have for diagnosis and treatment, and the sad reality of how that is doled out.  Progressively medicare favours those who can afford it, as opposed to those who need it.  Although not so prevalent in my more socialistic country, it is creeping in none-the-less.

We have a desperate need to teach people how to get along, how to treat animals and be respectful of our environment.  All forms of formal education fail us, and higher education is only for the elite.

Education and health care are moral and ethical necessities.

Just as is saving our environment.

No longer options.

We cannot afford to idle our time writing up yet another report or debating these issues.   We need to take action.  NOW.

Our leaders fail us.  Politicians are too busy being rock stars, spending our tax dollars on self glorification, public relations and personal money making interests.  Meanwhile our infrastructures are crumbling (roads, power stations, city buildings, etc.), pollution, sickness and poverty are rampant.  Most, if not all of this, totally fixable and preventable.  We have no excuses left.  We have the technology and brains to solve all our problems.  We just have to do it.

Fortunately, it is beginning.  People like Bill Gates and Boyan Slat are welcome vigilantes.  Governments serve their purpose as policy makers and law givers and I have no problem with having high standards we must adhere to.  But we can’t look to our leaders for action.  Action has to come from people.

Imagine a world where everyone is afforded medical diagnosis and treatment.  Where every one is educated (I don’t mean just formal education – I mean also learned in how to treat others, animals and the environment).

Imagine our environment pristine, no longer there to be ravaged, but to be enjoyed.  We are self sustaining.  No carbon foot print.

And

Free for All.

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What Are Vacations For?

From your employers point of view they have to pay you money to not work so they don’t find much value in vacations.  The only exception being that you come back refreshed so you can work harder.

However, if you look at this picture, this is pretty much what will happen to you if you don’t take a vacation.

You’ll seize up.

Okay – I seized up about 5 weeks before my vacation.  Poor planning on my behalf.

So now I use my vacation to get better.

Now I know what vacations are really for.  Healing.

Most vacations it takes about 2 weeks for me to totally de-stress, and then I can try to remember who I really am and what I truly enjoy doing and then go do it.  Fortunately, as I am older, I have insisted on 4 weeks vacation, so I have 2 weeks, usually, to enjoy myself.  Maybe not so much this year.

I had not anticipated a holiday in which I am trying to get well enough to go back to work – but I suspect that this is exactly what most people do in one way or another.

Since I am now the Tin Lady, not unlike the Tin Man who made the mistake of being out in the rain, I’m a wee bit stiff, and a hell of a lot slower.

My physiotherapist can appreciate this picture.

As my friend said, he can do the hundred yard dash in 3 days.

Which is probably a day less than me.

I am getting better, but I also may have a new reality.

My vacation has a new meaning – but I must admit, a better meaning.  I have learned so much from being disabled, way more than when I was an able bodied, and active person.  Valuable lessons I could not have gotten any other way.  I discovered also there are some very genuine caring people in this world who have given their time to help me, despite my pride and stubborn self!  And some have inspired me in new ways.

I have learned the true definition of resilience, and it is not what you think.  Courage is not being Wonder Woman 24/7.  It means you get out and do what you have to do while your brain is whining all the time, you’re totally despairing, you’ve lost all hope,  ready to curl up and die, you’re having pity parties, screaming in pain or yelling at your spouse or any other hapless creature in your way.  You grumble, you plod and you are miserable but you keep pressing forward.  You put yourself on auto pilot and never stop.

I am grateful for the experience and the education, but next time, I think an exotic locale with 5 star hotels might be a better choice!  My lessons will go with me even there, and enrich all my future adventures.