Soapbox Alert

I don’t usually do this, but I am so irritated right now, I just can’t get passed it.

I am not really sure why people are so upset about having the President of the United States, address the country’s youngest citizens. Especially since no one has actually HEARD the speech yet. If you want to get upset after the speech, be my guest. That is your right. But, to pass judgment on something that has not happened yet is a little ridiculous.

At the school where I teach, the administration has decided not to show the speech at all. There are so many parents worried that the President would brainwash their kids with his “socialist” ideas with this one speech. Please. I’m sorry, but wasn’t he elected?

I am a liberal that lives in a very conservative state. I do a lot of nodding politely and changing the subject during dinner parties and coffee shop conversations. It is pretty much guaranteed that I will not agree with the political views of 90% of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis. And that is ok. But even when the sitting President and I did not agree on issues, I was still respectful. I listened to his speeches. I rolled my eyes a lot and groaned, but I listened. And at the end of the day I recognized he was still my President. He had been elected to lead the country and we needed to let him speak.

I remember sitting in my own grade school listening to the President speak. And even at that young age, I recall thinking that it was nice that everyone could get a long for a few minutes and get behind a common cause- the nation’s children. Of course my thoughts were not that articulate, but you get the idea. It calmed me. I liked that the adults running my world could come together long enough to think about my friends and me. It made me feel safer in a world I had no control in. In a world I had no voice, or vote, I remember thinking I was glad someone was thinking about us kids.

It has been my observation that the children are often not thought of. And if they are remembered, it is an afterthought. They are a matter that many think can be placed on the back burner. They are not “real people” yet. Their issues can wait.

I live in a state that has had such massive education funding cuts, Shawn and I have seriously discussed moving. And we have had the discussion more than once.

In fact, the other day, Shawn and I went to a presentation about educational funding. The presenter advised us that there is a community a few miles away that is filled with retirees who consistently vote against educational bonds, etc because their children are no longer in school. My question to them would be this: “Who do you think is going to train YOUR caregivers to take care of you, when you are too weak and disabled to take care of your own needs?” The answer of course is the nations children.

And here is the thing. It is always the answer.

As I mentioned, the school where I work has chosen not to show the President’s speech. And as I have also said, the reason given was that we didn’t want to upset parents. But I don’t think that is the true reason at all. I think we are not broadcasting the speech to the student body because we don’t have enough TVs. AV equipment wasn’t in the budget.