Again it played out on television, this time with a backdrop of Libya. It could have been Iraq or Afghanistan, perhaps even Vietnam years before. Either way, we’ve seen it, teachers more than most. The journalist is surrounded by adrenaline-pumped people, all speaking at once when one, with the best broken English, becomes louder than the rest about atrocities committed against the group by another group, an evil leader, a bully. Our senses are overwhelmed; we can’t believe people are treated this way; we question who is being truthful; we try to quell the heightened emotions; we try to make sense.
I didn’t draw the parallel until today, after years of seeing the same, confused dance that I have so often disregarded as “playground politics”. I danced it as a child; I moderate it as a teacher. I painfully see those suffering it on a greater scale in the world. Someone feels wronged. Maybe they are. Someone did wrong. Maybe they did. I wasn’t there to witness how it began, but now it is on my plate to make sense of, to compromise, somehow to sooth the souls affected by disagreement.
Some say that’s life and children must learn to solve their problems. I suppose there is some truth in that, but as I see this desperation for justice play out and be placed upon the hands of the rest of the world, I do wonder: If we can’t figure out how to help them solve problems on the playground, how will they help us figure out how to solve problems in the world?
Very nicely said. The answer to the last line places the responsibility where it is and belongs – with the adult, the guide. What a tough, but worthwhile, challenge each day. Thank our teachers!!!!!!!
Thanks teachers. But we also need to thank diligent parents who sometimes model for teachers new and effective ways of solving problems and interpretting the world.