Understanding Saves the Day
Compassion Saves the Day
Love Saves the Day
Education Saves the Day
As I stand soaked to the skin in a Bristol field at a “summer” music festival it all becomes clear!
It’s a bank holiday in early June in England. The weather is Meh! It’s the afternoon. The sky is overcast. The temperature is way below what should be expected of our geographic position or our seasonal orbital path around the sun. Then it rains. We try to ignore it. It rains some more. We are actually starting to get quite wet. Our resolve is strong. But now the clouds seem to want to test us some more. The rain gets heavier. Spotlights emanating from the stage seem to highlight and magnify the rain drops so they look the size of golf balls. I can seriously never remember standing out in such a heavy prolonged downpour. If I were to jump into the raging torrents of the River Avon, I could not physically get any wetter than I am! The MCs, who have braved the weather on the open stage, spit their rhymes with passion, the DJ builds the music to crescendo, the Bass drops! Our bodies are filled with the resonance of low frequency sound energy. We jump, we bounce, we dance, we roar. We are filled with the euphoria of a shared musical epiphany! OMFG! A-Maze-zing!
So, what did the few thousand of us stood in a wet West Country landscape have in common? Were we the same age? Same gender? Same race? Same religion? Or same sexuality? Was it a requirement for us to have any specific physical characteristic? Would a statistical analysis of our demographics enable us to experience more or less of the enjoyment of that moment than any other person at the event?
67.2% of left-handed people, when accosted in a shopping mall at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, who expressed a preference said…
Modern day analysis and reporting on our society seems intent on sub-dividing, classifying and pigeon-holing us so that it can highlight injustices, increase tensions and propagate flashpoints of conflict! We do not need a calculation of the arithmetic mean, or a standard deviation of spread of results or a definition of the lowest common denominator to make things fair or just.
So, how do we learn from historical errors of discrimination and inequality? How do we move towards integration, balance and universal inclusion? Education!
We educate well. We facilitate intelligent, creative interactions. We make sure there are few barriers to entry. We showcase success. We support students to overcome obstacles. We educate on a wide range of topics. We ensure there is visibility of the education available. We educate to expand future choices. We educate to eliminate judgement. We educate on the wonderful cosmic array of humanity that exists.
Education Saves the Day <3