The real reason I'm writing here, now, is because I just caught a clip of the Daily Show with John Stewart. I'll admit, he's not my favorite guy in the world. I don't always agree with what he says or how he goes about making his point, but, sometimes, he does an outstanding job of bringing real issues to an audience that otherwise might not be exposed to them. That's what happened this morning, to me. I teach history, World History. Not US History, not Western Civ., but, what I feel to be, a true World History Course. I try to teach understanding, respect, and tolerance. I want my students to realize that they are not the center of the universe, but that they can play a central part in it. That they are both important and instrumental in their lives, the workings of their communities, and the progression, or digression, of the larger world. To say the least, it's a struggle. Most of the kids I get either think they are so important that the world can't move forward without their approval or think so little of themselves that it really doesn't matter if they died now or graduated from Harvard or Yale and cured cancer. In fact, most of them don't think they have a chance to make a difference.
I hope to change that. I hope the two videos below, and the 40 minutes it will take for you to view them, will be as inspiring to you as they were to me. After I watched the John Stewart clip, I couldn't help but search for more on Malala Yousafzai, a teenage girl from Swat Valley, a region of Taliban-controlled Pakistan. Nothing I've watched or seen in a long time has made me feel more like a failure, like I'm not doing enough, while simultaneously encouraging me to do more. To "fight the good fight" in the right way, all the time. I may never face the Taliban face-to-face, but I will confront them, and people like them, on a daily basis. People who use intimidation and veiled threats, ignorance and propaganda, to corral people and shield them from the truth. It's not enough to say, "Wow, that's one brave girl. Next clip, please." Nor is it acceptable to think, "Man, I could never do that. I'm not smart enough, brave enough, strong enough. No one listens to me because I'm just a kid." Or, in my case, just a guy with a bachelors in history who's students have scored lower than most others on the CST's over the past few years. There's a lot to be done, and I hope that, whoever you are, whoever reads this, that Malala Yousafzai's story strikes you. I hope it slaps you across the face so hard that it wakes you from your sleep. That the foot that strikes your stomach as you see what she's gone through, takes your wind from you, in a way that her innocence and childhood were taken from her. I hope it makes you stronger. I hope it inspires you.
Here is the link to the second video, form the New York Times. It gives you a sense of exactly where she's come from. http://nyti.ms/Q2QyEu
No comments:
Post a Comment