Home of the Brave?

by Ruth A. Sheets

The last five words of the National Anthem are “the home of the brave.”  I know that the poet was specifically referring to military courage, but I suspect that most Americans, whether or not they have a military bent, would like to see themselves as brave.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about courage.  It seems to me that it does not take courage to do what everyone else in your group is doing.  You get support of numbers.  If it is a popular action or stance, it’s even easier.  You’ll even be given the words to say.

It doesn’t take courage to be racist in America even if you call it something else.  A knee jerk hatred of President Obama or blaming poor people for their condition and plotting to cut programs which enable them to survive is not brave.

It doesn’t take courage to oppose all tax increases, even small rate raises for the richest among us,  because we Americans don’t seem to mind getting a lot and not paying for it.  We buy the myth that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”  We allow ourselves to be convinced that the wealthy just worked harder and smarter than anyone else, so deserve all they have.

It doesn’t take courage to filibuster these days in our Senate because you don’t even need to show up.  Most of the time, no one knows who even brought the filibuster.  All business can be blocked by Senators who don’t want anyone to know who did the blocking.

It doesn’t take courage to stand up in front of the media claiming that the way to protect our kids in school from gunmen is to have armed teachers and guards in all our schools when you have a powerful lobbying organization behind you.  No one who counts in your world will tell you just how stupid that idea is.

So, where is courage in America these days?  I have been despairing for some time, but I find that when I look around, courage shows up in all kinds of places.  The sad part for me is that those places don’t seem to include government, whether local, state, or federal.  A current fashion seems to be sowing fear wherever possible.  Then, folks in power, usually conservatives, legislate to relieve those invented or exaggerated fears to increase their own power.  Where is the courage in that?

Courage is people who are willing to take risks for folks who at that moment cannot help themselves.  If we are indeed the “home of the brave,” we need to be out there standing with and for those who need us to help them overcome.                               

What’s with Men These Days?

by Ruth A. Sheets

Most of the legislatures throughout the country now are male dominated.  After the 2010 election when disgruntled Democrats and others sat home in some sort of protest that everything they had wanted did not come to pass, we women found ourselves under attack.

There has been a lot of talk of a “war on women,” and it appears to me that this talk has it right.  Male legislators push through bills that restrict nearly everything related to women and control of their bodies.  Sometimes, they do it as Virginia’s Governor has, when people’s attention is focused on something else (the fiscal cliff).  Now, in VA, not only do women who want to choose abortion have to go through an ultrasound first, the clinics where they can have the abortion safely performed are facing laws to modify facilities which have nothing to do with safety, provision of information, or quality of care.  The goal is to shut down the clinics, of course.

What are the jobs most under attack by Republicans as costing too much and not worth the cost? Teachers and other government workers (jobs where women predominate).   Most governors back down from cutting and limiting support for police and fire fighters and other higher-level workers, predominantly men.  Interesting!

There have been a few victories for women and their supporters.  At least three major anti-women candidates were defeated in November.  Women have again begun to pay attention.  More women than ever before are serving in the US Congress.  All these are positive, but certainly not enough.

It seems that men are getting more scared of women than ever.  Perhaps it is that they see women moving forward in most jobs.  Women have passed men in number at most colleges and universities, including programs for training ministers.  Women are proving competent and creative when it comes to business.  Do men in power fear they will have to share that power with the other half, the half they were brought up to see as inferior because their primary task is raising children, and we know how much our society values its children.

What do we women do?  Well. . .  

we stay alert to what is going on,  

we fight where we can,

we support each other, , 

we keep demanding reproductive rights no matter the obstacles, then we break the law if we have to, 

we work to help talented women keep abreast of the skills in their field while they take some time to get their/our kids off to a good start,

we try to get progressive and moderate men on our side to see that making life better for women benefits them too,

 

Let’s get radical in 2013.

A Worthy Resolution

by Ruth A. Sheets

I am currently in my 18^th year teaching in one of the poorest school districts in the state of Pennsylvania.  Poverty and its implications are a constant shadow which my students and their families must face every day.  Parents here try to get for their kids all the things that other kids have:  iPhones, Droids, X-boxes, etc., even if it means a big financial sacrifice.

What I know from being here is that having things, even the things that more wealthy people have, does not necessarily provide the advantages one might expect.  Learning how to text, access FaceBook anywhere, and playing “Call to Duty” may provide something of a common language, but the drive for success as determined by the society at large does not necessarily accompany these shared activities for poor children.

I have very intelligent, creative students who could match ability with anyone.  Despite the daily challenges just to get through, they must also find time to babysit for younger siblings, help out older relatives, volunteer in their churches.  These tasks are not rated highly as extra-curricular activities.  They often take a lot of time and effort.  They rarely win points on college applications, if a student even feels worthy of going to college. 

Our district has cut out nearly everything that enhances life and builds self-esteem.  That is, except sports.  Basketball and football are big, so if a student has athletic ability, there are options.   Music and the arts, even though all kinds of research shows high value in these areas for students are now gone.  There is some effort to get private funding to add these as after school activities, but where does that leave those baby-sitting, elder care-giving, volunteering students?  They still miss out.

People on the outside looking in think of poverty as a personal choice, a desire to be lazy, a lack of commitment to a job, to be a “taker” as many Republicans would call it.  Not true, of course, but if the society can keep this understanding of poverty alive, it means that little or nothing has to be done for poor folks.  Teachers can be blamed for low test scores.  Parents can be blamed for not taking care of their kids properly.  Mismanagement of cities and school districts can be blamed for a lack of resources.  No one has to really look at poverty and what it actually does to individuals, communities, and societies.  No restructuring is required.  No middle or upper class people will be expected to address poverty and their role in it.

If people understood poverty even at its most basic level, the “Fiscal Cliff” nonsense would not even be looming.  The tax loopholes would have already been closed.  The wealthy would be paying their fair share.  Capital gains would be properly recognized as income.  Businesses would be striving to produce quality products and not be dumping their junk in poor communities, the quality of the environment in poor neighborhoods would not be permitted to deteriorate.

To rethink poverty is too much work.  There are no instant fixes.  We need someone in power with courage to reimagine what we as Americans can do to seriously eliminate poverty .  This is a worthy New Year’s Resolution, but whose resolution?