Thursday, April 30, 2009
In Case You've Never Been
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Well Worth Reading
Admittedly (and probably obviously) Mike does most of the blogging in the family, but every once in awhile I'm inspired to make a contribution. And this is one of those times. Although the following article is not my creation, it expresses exactly what I would want to say on the subject which, as an educator and for many years a South Carolinian, is very close to my heart:
Governor Sanford, We All Pay For Poor Education And Obsolete Economic Development
For those of us with a vision of an educated, affluent South Carolina, it is often baffling to figure out what Governor Sanford can be thinking. In a recent Op/Ed in The State, Governor Sanford succinctly stated the driver of his governing philosophy.
- In today’s political process, the Forgotten Man seems to be the taxpayer... Each day I find myself asking 'Who will pay for this?'”
Once you see the world from the perspective of an individual taxpayer sending his tax payment to the government, you understand more clearly why the Governor makes the decisions he does. Almost nothing, it seems, is as important in the Governor's world than reducing the size of that check. As a taxpayer who wishes he could pay less, I get that.
But, does that myopic focus on the individual actually cost the individual taxpayer in South Carolina money out of his pocket? In fact, two obsolete institutions where state government needs to spend money for individuals to make money, education and economic development, are costing the average South Carolinian everyday.
If three of us live in a community, each of us can take care of our individual needs every day. But if one of us will develop the specialized skills of a farmer, that is if he will become more educated in a specialized area, he can grow more food than the three of us individually. And if one will be the tailor, through specialized skills he can make more clothes. And if one will be the builder, he can build more housing. And if three of us trade, we will have our needs for food, shelter and clothing met, and we will have a surplus left over, which is the wealth each of us earns from our enhanced productivity.
This is not a new fangled idea promoted by some geeky Harvard economist. It is an ancient insight of why communities form from Plato's Republic. Note that for each of us to be more prosperous, each of us has to live in a community where education improves the skills of others around us. If one of us falls behind, we all pay a price for that in reduced productivity as we compensate.
What those who myopically focus on individuals miss is that no matter how hard any given individual is willing to work, it is much harder to be prosperous in a community where others lack education than in an affluent, educated community. Each individual's share of taxes that support education are not just a charitable contribution to help others, it is an investment made in the enlightened self-interest of each individual who is more prosperous living in a more educated community.
Education and economic development are both obsolete and need to be reinvented to drive prosperity. Public education is based on an industrial factory model where students show up on time, do their job, and go home. Children enter the first grade innately curious and creative, and we spend twelve years beating that out of them. Writing recently in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman observed,
- In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. dominated the world in K-12 education. We also dominated economically. In the 1970s and 1980s, we still had a lead, albeit smaller, in educating our population through secondary school, and America continued to lead the world economically, albeit with other big economies, like China, closing in. Today, we have fallen behind in both per capita high school graduates and their quality. Consequences to follow.
Like education, economic development in South Carolina is based on an obsolete industrial factory model. The top economic development official in the state has told me he is in the buffalo hunting business; that is, he sees his job as recruiting the next large manufacturer to the state. That model was obsolete before the recent economic crisis, because the competition for the few large manufacturers still building new factories in the United States was intense. The economic situation we are in only increases that competition.
We need a fundamentally different education policy focused on building the creative thinking skills that students will need over the course of their lives, and increasing the educational attainment of all citizens in the state. And we need an economic development policy built on creating deep pools of talent in focused areas that are among the best-in-the-world, with a highly skilled workforce to support those strengths.
We are not individual islands to ourselves, benefiting only from our individual efforts. We are people who live in communities, and each of us individually is more prosperous if others around us are also more educated and prosperous.
To answer Governor Sanford's question, 'Who will pay for this?," with regard to poor and obsolete education and economic development in South Carolina, the answer is we all do.
Monday, April 27, 2009
It's Different Down Here
A friend recently took us to Chilo's restaurant, a huge, wildly popular, low-priced, family-style seafood restaurant located on the road to Queretaro. The food was good, not great -- but included a seafood caldo (broth) that was obviously made from scratch with shrimp and lobster shells, as you'd expect in a fine bisque. Delicious! But what most stood out, on the day we visited (a national holiday) was the serious drinking folks were doing at mid-day. Note the gigante, yet near empty tequila bottle sitting on the table in the attached photo. When I snapped the shot, these guys had just paid their bill and were preparing to hop in their pick-up truck for parts unknown. And no one in the entire restaurant blinked an eye. Needless to say, we lingered awhile after our comida, hoping they'd already crashed or made it home. Yikes!
Friday, April 17, 2009
A Brilliant, if Metaphorical Take on The Mess We're In
A day at the beach
Imagine several families traveling together have stumbled upon the beach for the very first time.
When I say first time, I mean these folks have never seen the ocean before. They didn’t even know it existed and aren’t really even sure what it is. But hey, it’s a beautiful day. The sun is high. The water is warm. The waves are crashing and the people begin splashing, laughing and playing in the great, big, blue wonder they’ve discovered. They are happier than they can remember ever being, until one of children notices something is changing. The water is shrinking. The waves are moving further away and the barren sandy earth they unveil is growing. The child alerts the others. The laughing and playing come to a stop.
At first, they just watch. With sticks they mark where water reaches and soon they realize the child is right. The ocean is leaving. They’re unsure what to do. They have no idea what’s happening and begin to panic. Many fear they’ve done something to anger the big blue water. They offer sacrifices. They chant and cry and tremble. Some begin finger pointing and fights break out. Some run away while others try digging holes in the sand to save the water. All the while the water keeps receding. The ocean steadily gives way to sand and rock. Fear and anger give way to despair and hopelessness. As the sun sets, all hope is gone that the waves of joy and laughter will ever return. The remaining family members gather together. And with heavy hearts, turn and leave the beach.
Not far away, high up on a cliff sits a boy who has been watching over the beach. Here at the edge of the earth is his home. He knows the ways of the ocean. He’s puzzled by what he’s seen happen on the beach. Why did those people get so sad and angry? Why did they leave? Don’t they know that when the ocean unveils the sand you can find all sorts of new things? Don’t they know that when the ocean brings the deeper water closer the fishing is better and the prize can be bigger? Don’t they know that when the ocean reveals the jagged rocks there are hidden delicacies to gather? Don’t they know that that water comes back? He pauses for a moment, then shrugs his shoulders and quickly climbs down the cliff from which he’s spotted big fish in the surf. He picks up his spear and heads out into the big blue water, fully expecting to bring home the catch of a lifetime.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A Cool Story
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Gratitude
Your eyes are still closed when you hear the beeping of your digital alarm clock on the small wooden table next to your bed. Your arm naturally reaches over for the black "snooze alarm" button when you notice that it's 30 minutes past the time when you intended to get up. What's wrong with this clock? Now you have to rush, but in a matter of minutes you find yourself unexpectedly delayed by a toilet that won't flush. "I'm really starting off the day in great shape," you think. You get dressed and start the coffeemaker to give you a bit of a jolt, but when you come back to the kitchen there is hot water and coffee grounds all over the table. The filter must have clogged up again. You're beginning to think that this is a bad dream. But it's not over. You open the door to grab the morning paper and glance at the news before leaving for work but . . . no paper! You look to the left, to the right. Did someone take your paper? Did they forget to deliver it? No time to speculate further. Got to get to work. As you drive down the highway to work, you're thinking about how rough the morning has been when suddenly—the person driving in the next lane changes lanes, cutting you off and almost running you off the road. When you arrive at work your heart is still racing and you take every opportunity to share your "frustrating" morning with your colleagues.What a relief it will be when this day is over!
If you've ever had a day when everything seems to go wrong you can probably sympathize with the subject of this story. It's understandable that he or she would feel frustrated and perhaps conclude that the world is a pretty unfriendly place.
To understand the relationship between attention and gratitude we need to turn the story around. Imagine a day when . . . .
• the alarm works perfectly
• the toilet flushes just the way it's supposed to
• the coffeemaker produces a hot, aromatic cup of coffee
• your morning paper is waiting outside your door
• no other car crashes into you or cuts you off on the way to work
Now what happens? Do you arrive at work feeling overwhelmed with gratitude—with an attitude of appreciation for all the people and things that are supporting you on this glorious morning?
Probably not.
Most likely your attention has identified and attached itself to some other set of problems. If there's no particular problem going on that morning, your mind may ruminate about something that happened in the past or anticipate some difficulty that may occur in the future. It is common for our attention to focus on the problems and difficulties we are facing because we have to pay attention to such challenges in order to resolve them. Unfortunately we can develop a "habit of attention" in which we fail to notice the many things that are supporting our existence—our health, our work, our family, and our comfort. The more this "habit of attention" has developed, the less likely we will be able to experience gratitude.
Many years ago I had an experience hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I hiked up a rocky trail that went through a dense forest of pine, hemlock and maple. But I was regularly forced to take detours because trees and tree limbs had fallen and blocked my way. I was frustrated by the constant obstacles and my mind became more and more agitated. When I reached the top of the trail I found a beautiful rock outcropping with an extraordinary view, but my mind continued to ruminate over the difficulties I faced on my hike. However, I began to wonder whether my attention had been so absorbed in my feelings of frustration that I had missed something. I vaguely remembered that there were a couple of places where I had noticed the "cut" ends of logs on either side of the trail—obviously someone had removed the section of the tree blocking the path with a chain saw. So on my way down I did some research. For a period of time I kept track of every tree or limb that was in my way. But I also made a special effort to count the cases where it was clear that someone had removed this fallen timber. At the end of my sample period, I counted 42 obstacles, but I found that there were at least 47 instances where trees had been removed to make my journey easier. This was more than a lesson about trees—it was a lesson about life. And it led to a maxim that is one of several maxims we use to teach Japanese psychology: Your experience of life is not based on your life, but on what you pay attention to.
I discovered more about the connection between gratitude and attention when I discovered a Japanese method of self-reflection called Naikan (like the name of the camera). The word Naikan means "inside looking" or "inside observation." This method of self-reflection is primarily based on three questions:
• What have I received from others?
• What have I given to others?
• What troubles and difficulties have I caused others?
As you can see these questions are very simple. When I participated in a 14-day retreat in Japan in 1989, these questions became the framework for me to reflect on my entire life. I reflected on each stage of my life and on every person who had played a meaningful role in my life since my birth (my mom, dad, grandparents, teachers, friends, colleagues, ex-girlfriends, etc. . .) When I stepped back from my life and began quietly reflecting on everything that had been done for me and given to me (question #1) I was surprised, overwhelmed and deeply moved by how much I had received in my life. The day I left that retreat I felt more cared for, loved, and supported than ever before. It was as if I had a blood transfusion and gratitude was now simply flowing through my veins and arteries. I had learned to notice what I had not been noticing. Through self-reflection I had learned about attention and gratitude.
That two-week Naikan retreat inspired me to return to Japan many times to investigate, in more depth, the Japanese art and practice of self-reflection called Naikan. I have yet to discover a more profound method for cultivating gratitude and reshaping our attitude and understanding of our lives.
Many people assume that they would naturally be more grateful, if only their problems would go away and their lives would improve. But research, as well as observation, shows that gratitude is not a function of our circumstances. Nor can we use our willpower or our intellect to cultivate an authentic sense of appreciation.
It is rare to meet a person who is truly grateful. Most people don't really appreciate what they have until it's gone. But it's quite common to meet someone who is good at complaining. We can complain about the dreadful condition of our economy—but, in fact, we also complained when the economy was healthy.
Gratitude, attention, self-reflection—these are qualities worth cultivating, for they allow us to understand and appreciate our lives while we still have the opportunity to do so. At one level, they shed light on the mysteries of grace and faith. And, at another level, they make us truly grateful for our own miraculous capacity to hear an alarm clock and see the sunlight as we open our eyes each morning.
