If you’ve read my previous few posts, you know I am, among other things, a high school social studies teacher for an American school in Israel. It’s 10:30 AM here now (3:30 AM EST). At 1:05 PM, I’ll face my students for the first time since the Election of 2016. And I’m not sure what to say to them.
My teenage students lean towards the progressive end of the spectrum. For the first two months of this semester, we reveled in the pending victory of experience over ignorance, and merit over noise. But that’s all been shot down. The racist, sexist, lying, cheating, fact-less, business failure beat the most qualified candidate America has ever seen. I can’t justify that. I can’t explain that. And I can’t tell them what will become of their (our) country. We try to teach young people that they can succeed if they work hard, act honestly, and treat others how you would like to be treated. Evidence (I always demand evidence from them) tells us now that this isn’t true.
What do I say to my very tired 16 and 17 year olds?
I’m going to remind them of the words of Pres. Obama… the sun will rise in the morning. The sun rose in Jerusalem this morning, and it’s a beautiful day. I’ll tell them that America and Americans will face hard times. There will be economic, governmental, and cultural turmoil. And was may see a resurgence of the KKK. But we’re still Americans who fight for equality and a more perfect union.
I’ll tell them that when they go back to the US in January, they can get involved in public and private efforts to make life better for those that are suffering. I’ll remind that they they will be able to vote in 2018 and in 2020. Whatever damage is done, the beauty and genius of our system, is that we can repair the damage and emerge stronger.
And while I tell this to my students, I’ll tell it to myself as well. And to all of your. Our values are still our values. Our goals are still our goals. We’re blessed with minds and means to do good.
Let us keep our heads up. Go forward as Americans. Pick up our flag and fight on.
When the sun comes up, it begins #Election2018.