After watching this powerful video for the third time I…

Creating:

An educational revolution as if the disenfranchised and disinherited children of our nation mattered.

A revolution in your personal life, and then declaring independence; as if your personal life mattered.

 

I found this video so very much Inspiring; so that, after watching it for the third time I took notes:

  • Her difficult childhood in growing up in the projects: “..It was scary, like every day” and; “..I felt trapped in a life that was not pleasant..”  For too many children, they arrive to school every day burdened with so many thoughts that would weigh heavily on even the strongest adult. And yet we expect them to magically leave those fears, hurt and disappointments outside of the school building. For those financially well-to do “Re(de)formers”, who say poverty does not matter, clearly they have not felt or understood the overwhelming pain of poverty; the multidimensional, overwhelming and comprehensive aspect of that pain; and how it asserts and inflicts its punishment on the lives of these young people and their families; every hour, every moment and every day of their existence. Children, don’t come to school having left their lives, their families and their histories at home.  On the other hand, for the re(de)formers misguided liberal cousins who say that poverty is the final determiner of a child’s fate, the deciding variable that prevents their learning; I reject their cynical fatalism as a theoretical rational (aka, excuse) that allows them to not fight hard for the educational success of all children. A school must serve as a lighthouse, a sanctuary, an antidote to the challenges young people face in their personal lives. The school must be a purposeful conscious cultural model of achievable hope; and the positive change mechanism of what is, and can be possible.

 

  • Sadly, there is always an “enabling-cooperating” factor in any (psychological or physical; subtle or dramatic) abusive relationship. It is therefore important, that one should seek to create a revolution in your personal life, (in your personality), and then go on to declare, and live a life Independent of self- allowed degradation. Personal history is not destiny. At any moment in your life, you can (without asking permission) choose to live a life that does not require that you serve as the psychological (or in this case also physical) punching bag for those whose goal in life is to find someone  who can help them to create meaning in their lives, by filling the other person’s life with feelings of despair and the absence of meaning. Why, stay in a situation where one is not appreciated?  I recently express to someone who called to tell me that I was missed from…………. “Being appreciated”, I thought, but did not say: “is more important than being missed.” For, one can be missed for all of the wrong reasons. Ah, but to be appreciated means your essential and healthy (mutually beneficial) contribution is a critical component to the successful outcome of the project, or relationship. In a most important way this speaks to a spiritual symmetry of rewarding results. Therefore, any type of abuse (personal, corporate or collective), is by definition a spiritually  asymmetrical relationship.

First, the task is to find, and grow your natural sense of self-appreciation. This can be achieved through the development of your unique gifts and talents. Second, take care, be good and strengthened yourself; that is, your physical and psychological self. Then, and only then, can you live and work in a space that is truly worthy of your presence and contribution.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03/strive-to-thrive-wendy-ida-first-step_n_3542907.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices