99th reason to blog for peace: War is not normal

I'm not sure, but I think I was late getting started, so I'm going to go ahead and give my 99th reason to blog for peace.

This morning while glancing at the Morning Joe between dressing, eating, blogging, and brushing my teeth; I heard Marvin Kalb say that President Obama has no reason to be internally affected by the Vietnam conflict since he was 13 when it ended. Kalb had taken part in a symposium Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama and had a lot more to say, but I want to talk about that one statement.

I was about 14 when the Vietnam conflict "ended." My friends were not drafted and did not serve. I was 'too young' to care, right?

But I did. It was an integral part of my life from my earliest memories until the end of the war. If my friends didn't serve, the boyfriends of my babysitters did. I heard songs against the conflict and songs in favor of it. Everyone thought about it, more than we do now.

When I was in kindergarten, we sang, "God Bless America" and my teacher said, "Let's sing loud enough so that our boys in Vietnam will hear us and know what they are fighting for." I sang really loud, and I think I truly believed they could hear me. And that I was what they were fighting for.

My uncle served in the Navy in Vietnam. I don't remember being afraid for him. I remember that he wrote really great letters to me. He also wrote letters to my aunt, his fiance. I didn't understand why she read my letters but I couldn't read hers. I never said I was a bright kid.

Every night at around supper time, we'd watch the news. There was only one television (which did not appear to have an 'off' button) and there were three or four channels. And on every one (except PBS which showed the June Bug show) there was the nightly news. Walter Concrite (as I called him --- see note about brightness above) or Hunkley-Brinkley (ditto on the note) told us the same thing every night. Over film of soldiers & sailors & airmen fighting & marching & flying, they would announce the death toll. This many Americans died today. This many Vietnamese. Day in and day out.

In 1968, I was eight years old, watching television with my father. There was "Breaking News." Back then, breaking news meant something important had happened and not that, for instance, Michael Jackson is still dead. WC or H-B or whoever announced that the Soviet Union had invaded Czechoslovakia. My dad dropped his teeth (really, he did that).

I looked at him and said, "what's wrong?" 

He said, "the last time anyone invaded Czechoslovakia, we had WWII".

I said, "so what?" 

"SO WHAT?" he said, picking up his teeth and dropping them again.

"There is always a war", I said. "And I'm missing the Monkees."

Over the years there have been years without war or conflicts or whatever, but it still seems strange to me to NOT have a war. I think we care less because we don't know who is fighting so much now. Without a draft, fewer people are directly involved. Fewer people know someone over seas. Fewer people have a personal stake.

And so my 99th reason for blogging for peace is that war should not be the new (or old) normal. Peace should not be an oddity that happens once in a blue moon.

100 days 100 reasons Blogblast for Peace

There are 100 days until November 4, the day of the peace blog.  Mimi has challenged us to post one hundred reasons to blog for peace, one each day.


I am going to try... you can see how well I keep up with regular posting.  I will sometimes post it alone and sometimes in conjunction with a different blog entry.  We will see.  One hundred reasons... one hundred days.


Today, I blog for peace because of:

I blog for peace for my children, my grandchildren, my nieces, my friend's children, and for the children of acquaintances, strangers, and enemies.  May they know peace.  May they embrace peace.  May they understand its value.

Not a response to cowardly anonymous letters...

I, along with several others, have received an anonymous letter from "concerned parents" consisting of various and sundry accusations and unpleasantries lobbed toward Carolina School for Inquiry and its director.  The writers claim they are anonymous because of fear of retaliation and not out of cowardice.  They also claim to represent the majority of parents, all of whom are terrified of the demonic power of the director.  Unlike whistle blowers who present factual information ("proof") of wrong doing to authorities in an attempt to right a wrong, these people offer nothing but bombastic rhetorical questions and sweeping generalizations.  All we know about them is that they are NOT English majors.


Some of the accusations allege mishandling of personnel issues or student discipline issues.  As anyone who works in HR should be able to explain to them, IF there were personnel issues (and I'm not saying there were) it would be illegal for the director or the board to discuss them.  And there are very strict laws protecting the privacy of students.  While one would hope that integrity would prevent people from spreading rumors that can't be legally addressed, we live in a free country and reap both the benefits and disadvantages of that freedom.


The few verifiable accusations not related to privacy issues are easily refuted.  For instance, they contend that when Governor Nikki Haley visited the school, the students were poorly behaved.  All we have to do is look at the videotape to see that the children were polite and exuberant; a wonderful combination I credit to the environment of respect and inquiry.  As always, I was proud of the students, the faculty, and the staff.  It saddens me that someone would try to steal such a momentous achievement from these students, simply to stoke their own anger.


And this leads me to what I really want to say about Carolina School for Inquiry, its fabulous director, and its magnificent teachers.  Carolina School for Inquiry started as a dream that students could learn in an atmosphere of respect, where their ideas were valued, their input expected, their voices heard.  Some people said that public school children needed worksheets and uniforms to achieve higher test scores (which, of course, have nothing to do with learning.)  We said ALL children are inquirers.  All children should be helped to find their inner writers, inner scientists, inner athletes, inner leaders.  ALL CHILDREN.


In the past five years, we have shown that to be true.  Our test scores are higher than the scores of the naysayers.  Our children love school.  They are not bullies, they don't bully; they have learned to deal with each other.  They don't have to be watched 24/7 to insure they don't step out of line, because the line comes from inside.  They know how to act.


Not everyone loves this as much as we do.  And that is OK.  CSI is a school of choice, and if it's not your choice, make another. 


In the past five years, we have not been the choice of fine families who believed that their children needed more or less structure than we offered.  Some wanted uniforms and more homework; others wanted homeschooling.  They believed their children would learn better elsewhere. 


We have not been the fit of some fine teachers.  Some left to become excellent teachers of inquiry elsewhere.  Others realized that they were more comfortable with conventional teaching methods than with the rigorous personal and professional demands on teachers of inquiry.  Some decided that teaching wasn't their calling.  Choices.


Carolina School for Inquiry has been a wonderful choice for my son.  At risk of staying safe in the mind-numbing boredom of a conventional school, he was shaken out of his comfort zone academically, physically, and socially by some of the finest teachers I have ever met.  No matter where he goes, no matter who he becomes, he will always be a learner, a scientist, a writer, and a great citizen.  Thank you Mrs. Dixon-Mokeba.  Thank you Mrs. Greene.  Thank you Mrs. K, Mr. Chris, Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Hodges, and Ms. Spradley.  Thank you to all of the art, Spanish, music, and PE teachers.  Thank you to everyone who has helped my child become the great young man he is.


My prayer is that ALL CHILDREN, no matter what their learning styles, their gifts and talents, their personalities, their background; will be given a Choice for an education style that fits their needs.  EVERY CHOICE SHOULD BE AN EXCELLENT CHOICE.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Let there be peace on earth...
And let it begin with me.

When I have tried to think about what to write in a peace blog, I've been bombarded with images and memories, bits of songs, snippets of conversations, flashes of photographs.

And what I end up thinking is something I read on a bumper sticker put out by the Marynoll Nuns about 30 years ago.

If you want peace, work for justice.

If you want peace, teach the children.
If you want peace, feed the hungry.
If you want peace, hold the frightened.
If you want peace, be peaceful.

Let there be peace on Earth
And let it begin with me