DON’T GET TERMINAL ADULTHOOD

Ally Sheedy’s character in “The Breakfast Club” says this memorable line, “when you grow up, your heart dies”. I often ponder about that. Is it because of the experiences we accumulate, having to pay bills, working at jobs we don’t like, tragedies we experience over time, etc.? It’s quite sad really. We grow up and we fracture into Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Northerners, Southerners, and blah, blah, blah. We get domesticated and inculcated and we listen to absurd miscreants on absurd social media platforms and “news” sources who spout unfathomable bullshit that we buy into because we are pissed or scared or racist or homophobic or ethnocentric or nationalistic or something else that makes us easily hate for no particular reason. I was starkly confronted with this dichotomy this week (the one between the honesty and beauty of youth, and the ugliness of adulthood). On the one hand, I attended several 5th grade moving up ceremonies as a Board of Education trustee in White Plains, on the other hand I received a message from someone whom I know who referred to President Joe Biden as a Nazi (I’m not kidding, he/she really said that).

First, the moving up ceremonies. They were simply beautiful. A rainbow of kids in our wonderfully diverse school district attended the ceremonies with parents and guardians. The kids, their families, their teachers and other school district administrators and staff have been through an ordeal over the past 15 months. The COVID pandemic, which has now taken more than 600,000 lives in this Country, caused schools and those they serve to have to pivot time and time again, and to employ technologies in ways not previously used. However, what came through loud and clear at each ceremony (and thus far I have attended four at three different elementary schools in our district) is that the teachers, and those who support them, found ways to use technology to create loving, supportive and intact learning communities. As I spoke with the kids and their families following the ceremonies (all of whom wore face masks without complaint) what I learned is that, for the most part, kids adapted (as kids will do much easier than us adults) and found ways to educationally, socially and emotionally connect with their teachers and peers. Of course, it would have been better if the pandemic never happened and if kids could have been in school during these past 15 months, but it did happen. We learned, grew, and remained a vibrant thanks to sound leadership and the support of the entire White Plains educational community, as well as the community at large. Indeed, White Plains has received special national recognition for the way the pandemic was handled, and for our ongoing work on equity, from the United States Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. The Secretary visited our high school, and he invited the President of our Board of Education, Rosemarie Eller, and other district representatives to be participants on a national panel.

As I watched the kids at the ceremonies sing, laugh and admit to feeling a bit nervous about moving on next year to middle school, I realized that the reason I have served 17 years on the Board is because it brings me into the world of education and kids. My batteries are continuously recharged by the beauty, honesty, inquisitiveness without agenda, caring and love that kids easily display. They are a breath of fresh air from the adult crap that I am usually schlepping through during the day. For the most part, kids (if they haven’t been poisoned by adults) greet each new person with an open mind and an open heart. It would be interesting if they ran the world. I think it would be a better place.

Now let’s turn to the Joe Biden Nazi thing. This was based upon a report from one of those crazy ass “news” sources, Breitbart, that put a ridiculous spin on the president seeking to create ways for Americans to raise concerns about radicalized friends and family. Following 9/11 we have seen an uptick in this Country of radicalization of American citizens, and the resulting loss of life and damage from acts of domestic terrorism. From the bombing at the Boston Marathon (where my dear friend’s son almost lost his life), to mass shootings, to the insurrection in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 where people lost their lives, things certainly do not feel as safe as they once did. Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security, and other security agencies, have affirmed that domestic terrorism now poses the greatest threat to this Country. Unfortunately, since 9/11 the phrase “if you see something, say something” has become necessary and taken on a life of its own. The phrase is employed, advertised and recited by every level of government across the United States.

So, is Joe Biden a Nazi or, as Marjorie Taylor Greene said (and has now apologized for following her visit to the National Holocaust Museum) are the people requiring the use of face masks to stop a deadly virus Nazis? This tossing around of the label “Nazis” is patently absurd and diminishes the horrible atrocities perpetrated during World War II by actual Nazis. As the tattoos on the arms of holocaust survivors reminds us, along with the rest of the historical record from the 20th Century, Nazis (the National Socialist German Workers’ Party), under the direction of Adolph Hitler and his ideas for a “Final Solution”, rounded up Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and others. They had Jews wear little yellow stars so that they could be identified as being less human than the true Arian race. Eventually, many of these humans were rounded up, used as slave labor, and those not used as slave labor were exterminated in death camps.

Although you may not be a Democrat, and you may otherwise not agree with one or more of Joe Biden’s policies, and you may think he is an awful president, that does not make him a Nazi. Joe is a decent human being, and his history of loss, being there for his family, supporting the military and their families, etc., is exemplary. In many ways he is a true example of the best qualities of being human. To suggest that he is a Nazi, or for Marjorie Taylor Greene (and like-minded people) to equate the wearing of a mask with the wearing of a little yellow star, is nothing short of insanity.

In 1976, when I was an undergraduate, Timothy Leary came and spoke at my university. I do not remember much of what he said, but I have always remembered his statement, “don’t let yourselves get terminal adulthood”. It seems that our Country, lead by some truly despicable people with no moral compass, but with their own agendas for fame and power, some kind of media platform, and with a desire to keep the average folks distracted and at war with one another, is awash in terminal adulthood. It has gotten so ugly and there seems to be no signs of letting up.

No one is guaranteed any number of tomorrows. I choose to spend my time learning from children the lessons that are so simple and easily forgotten. Be kind, be human, don’t judge, be moral and try to see things from the other person’s perspective. Share your twinkies, get two cookies (one for the other person), greet people whom you’ve never met with a smile and an open hand, don’t let other people tell you whom to hate, and don’t call someone a Nazi unless, and in fact, they act like a Nazi, in which case you should call the police.

Try this exercise. For 5 minutes every day remember what it was like to be a kid. Forget about all the unnecessary and dividing social constructs that society uses to propagate and maintain the status quo. Take some deep breaths, greet whomever you meet on street, and remember that you (like everyone else on the planet) was given this ultimate gift of being alive and don’t waste it with hate. Remember, it’s really a pretty short trip from cradle to grave. One World/ One Love. Peace.