In the absence of our regular discussions, I thought I should post something. The board looked too empty…
Here is a picture I see. Every day the crowd wakes up on a choo-choo that is going about 80 on a dirt road. The conductor (newly positioned due to popularity) knows full well that the station is just ahead. When a passenger questions the choice, the conductor is righteously indignant and fires back that the path and choice must be right. There are several cognitively neutered and scared “co-signers” who shout down the questioning passenger. The conductor with newly reinforced credibility and support states calmly that the course must be true because that is what we have been doing and besides he just turned slightly, tooted the horn and increased the speed! He is working hard! “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to drive a train through a forest?” he shouts. The vehement expressions of surety and calmness sooth the fear of the passengers. Tensions ease with the passengers reinforcing their corroboration with a little justification with the fact that they have never driven a train and feel that since he has for a minute it equals that 100% more experience than they have, so they defer. The Lemming Express plunges off a cliff. The next day’s headline reads, “Conductor a hero for saving lives of those not hit!” Further in the paper the article reads, “Railroad sued for not laying track through the forest and failure to post warning lights on the dirt road”.
Band-Aids are good for scrapes and minor cuts. Our society is sick, broken and on that dirt road going 80 and we are concerned with getting the Scooby-Doo Band-Aids and not the Spider Man. I see our profession (along with educators and clergy) as the ones with the introspection, education and theoretical wherewithal to demand the conductor step down so we can course correct.
I am not talking about politics. I am talking about foundations for the paths on which will travel. Progress cannot be simply defined as moving in a direction that some think is right. What do we have to show for our progress and choices?
— R. A. Grier