Dogs in public!

I got in a big discussion yesterday. It was all about something else at first and like most of these rambling discussions turned into me arguing a stance I wasn't sure I had before the topic came up. From an off-handed comment about the fact that a hotel had pet friendly rooms, which I applauded, because I have traveled with my dog and like having them with me.

Well that was the wrong opinion to have. I needed to have a different opinion. I remarked that I found no reason at all that I shouldn't be able to take my dog where I want. Someone else commented that they were certain a lawsuit would ensue. I agreed. Only, my opinion was that someone who was denied access to someplace with a companion animal (not a service animal) would sue and probably win. The other opinion expressed was that somebody would get sued for bringing their dog somewhere. Well that already happens. My side of the argument is: if my dog is better behaved and cleaner than your child why should I be denied???

And don't tell me it ain't happened. I was at my son's award ceremony the other day. Sitting right in front of me was a wonderful beautiful young girl. Who had boogers encrusted all over her face, was coughing and sneezing, and stank of .... well.... fertilizer. She and her sibling ran about the place mucking up all they could. Spreading disease and germs far and wide. I think even the pigs would have been worried about getting the flu from these kids. Mom??? you may ask. Sitting and chatting!

Now, I am not here to argue that those kids should be denied access to the school event, but why can't my dog come? This is a public building, it's my dog, and my son's dog. He is well behaved, clean, and doesnt' shed. But he's the menace?

We have distanced ourselves to much from the reality that life is messy. Life is dirty, animals are part of the environment that we also belong to.

"Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. "
— Roger Caras

Manspaces

I am a big fan of TED and today I have been catching up. This video was a lot of fun.

So here's the picture of my manspace which happens to be my cubicle at work. Totally Dilbert!

Burdens

Last weekend was the 179th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was in attendance via television broadcasts, which I enjoyed immensely. There was a practice in old Testament times regarding the Sabbath. After 7 Sabbaths there would be a double Sabbath. I have always felt that General Conference was like that.

But the Gospel is a real burden. There is so much about being actively engaged in the Church that is a burden. We are expected to read our scriptures, study good books, pay 10% of our income as tithing, attend our meetings for 3 hours a week plus fulfill other callings for 5 to 8 hours a week, plus volunteer and help in the community, plus attend the temple regularly, weekly if possible, we are also expected to be the world's best parents and teach our children, knit scarves for the elderly rake leaves for the widows abstain from all the worldly pleasures of coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol and a basketful of other things. The burdens wear me down. They are so taxing at times. It's easier to follow Satan with him you don't have to do anything.

But one of the talk at conference helped me understand something. I dont' think Elder L. Whitney Clayton actually stated it, but he sure intended this idea with his talk. When we take up the yoke of the gospel It is a burden, but the burden is light in comparison with the burdens of sin and regret. Compared to trying to shoulder our lives challenges alone the burden of the gospel is indeed light.

Matthew 11:30

What would @Alfiekohn say?

I have recently rediscovered Alfie Kohn. He is still my hero! I have been reading some of his articles and a thought struck me.

How much longer are we going to continue to do things to students and not with them.

Case in point: Reading! Evidence absolutely supports the practice of having students read 20 minutes a day. What happens when this becomes a club used to beat the students? Because this 20 minutes a day is so important in many of today's classroms it becomes the bulk or sometimes the entire measure of the students reading grade. Therefore a student who is struggling to report his reading because of organizational difficulties gets beaten down. Not because he or she can't or doesnt read, but because he or she is to busy reading to bother writing it down.

How much of our jobs as educators is to enforce a factory worker model of responsibility? How much of what we do in our day should be to instill in children the need to: be on time, turn in your work, be quiet, don't disrupt? I have written about this before: the fact that our traditional schools instill values that aren't the qualities necessary for leadership.

I wonder too how much of our job as educators is to be the guardians of civilization. The educational system is designed and sturctured to hold fast to the values of a world that is rapidly changing, but I wonder if we do that too often by holding to the practices of a world that has largely disapeared?

When I was in the classroom it took my 10 years to really learn that what mattered most was not instilling in students the values that I held so dear. Not to force them to comply or conform to what I thought was most important, but rather to help them learn to value what mattered most to them. I am not sure I ever quite got it. But, I do know that the longer I taught the more I strove to give kids multiple ways to demonstrate competency. Multiple modes to learn and demonstrate learning. The more I valued the uniqueness and distinctness of each student. We have to teach classes because it seems to just work that way, but it is still each student that learns. We have to value that student. To do that we have to measure more than: "Did little Susie write down that she read 20 minutes last night"

p.s. I never came back to finish this but decided to post it as is!

Forgiveness: a lesser law

I have been thinking about forgiveness lately. I am going to propose a radical concept. Something that's truly crazy. Forgiveness is actually a lower law. We talk sometimes in the LDS Church about the higher law and the lesser law. Moses when he first went on the Mount recieved a higher law. A law similar to what Christ would later reveal in the flesh. So goes LDS tradition. Christ when he came raised the stakes. He taught that it was no longer enough to obey the law "Thou shalt not kill" but raised the bar. According to Christ we are to not even get angry with our brother or call him Raca!

Don't get me wrong, forgiveness is an important and vital law. It enables us to get to the higher law I think exists. Forgiveness though, in the sense most people use it, connotes singularity. You made me made, or hurt me, or lied, or didn't do the dishes when I asked and left me with a huge mess even though I have an important Relief Society Meeting tonight. "I forgive you" It kind of feels like. You have sinned and this one time I will extend my mercy toward you.

Charity, the pure love of Christ, extends beyond a single act of mercy. It is a trait, a lifestyle and a character of compassion. It is: I know you are an idiot and forgot to do the dishes and probably will again in the future, but I see you are also good and I love and care for you. Charity to me has a much more permanent sense to it. Not an acceptance or tolerance of sin, but an acceptance and compassion for the sinner. Don't get me wrong at all. I am not saying we don't need to forgive or that forgiveness isn't divine. What I am saying is that I believe that in many of our relationships we develop something higher (or deeper) than simple, singular forgiveness a compassion that fills us with understanding and love of the people around us..warts and all as my mother always said.