What can I say?

What can I say to really make a difference. I get all kinds of e-mails from all kinds of political organizations. These messages have become so repetitive that I don't even open them anymore. I have the feeling that many of those e-mails contain quests for more donations without really convincing anyone that these donations can change the drift of this country. It seems that wherever you look there is a sense of globality without a sense of community. It isn't just the phrase "think globally, act locally" that disturbs me. The casualness with which that sentence is uttered, that phrase has become so pat.

It is the lack of anyone actually paying any attention to the need right here in our midst. There is a neighbor next door who needs a kind word. There is a stranger across the way who needs to be noticed, who needs to be taken as a sign of life in this neighborhood.

My handyman and his brothers from Mexico know what it is. They act like real people who ask question. They want to know. They are interested in the world around them. How about you out there. Have you seen any children in the street lately? They are not out getting some sunshine.

I remember a child from two houses down striking up a conversation, asking all kinds of questions. But that was a long time ago. Where are the children? Where is that curiosity? And when can I tell them that this world is so beautiful, and, that there is so much to learn?

"No child left behind" leaves so much behind. It assumes that learning can be entered into a person as if it were a double-click on a computer icon. Children don't have a funnel on their heads that receives information. It's not as if they were geese being noodled to become obese from knowledge. Enough said!