I'm still bad at sports, but my childhood disdain for them was just misplaced ego.

There's a student in one of my seventh grade English classes who the other teachers don't like.  She is definitely obstinate, and she's always hunched over her desk, doodling or zoning out.  From the way she consistently squints at the board and her tablet, I suspect she just has an undiagnosed vision problem (and yes, I have mentioned this to the other staff).

Today, while another class was writing something, I briefly looked out the window.  There she was, happily running, jumping, and playing tennis below.  I didn't watch long enough to tell if she is good at it or not (and I'm so bad at sports I wouldn't know anyway), but I was deeply satisfied to see her so smiling and activated.  I was just happy to see that her school life wasn't only the drudgery she experiences in English classes...

I've been teaching ESL and special education for 25 years, and there are no students I don't like.  except maybe the two bullies I have encountered, and even then, they had their own problems and were just frustratingly beyond my reach...

But this isn't actually about that.

Except for math, which I am truly terrible at, I have always been a very smart, clever, and capable student.  On the other hand, I have always been completely inept at sports.  In my early 30s I somehow managed to become a somewhat accomplished rapier & dagger fencer (probably through sheer force of fantasy-nerd-will).  But if you put a ball in my hand or some teammates around me expecting me to run, jump, or catch something, it's all going to go quite badly.  and it always has.  So I always thought intelligence and academic learning were far superior and more important than playing sports.  And I think a lot of people think this way.  Certainly most teachers do.

And I'm not really going to argue this point.  Intelligence and academic ability are clearly valuable in societies so heavily augmented by technologies and organizing principles.  But physical (and emotional and intuitive) ability is still also valuable, and it still also brings people happiness and fulfillment.  So, I was wrong to consider the thing I was better at to be the better thing.

I don't think that way anymore.  While I do hope that student can be helped to get more out of her classtime, I think it's perfectly fine if she just gets by and focuses her life energy on playing sports or whatever she can feel fulfilled and successful in doing.  There's plenty of space in society for her to do so.

Finally, what I really want to bring out is this:
It is quite natural and positive to have some pride in your abilities and feel like the things you are good at are valuable.  But it is a mistake to believe that the thing you are superior in is also above all other things.  This warps your sense of value across society, leading to inequalities, imbalances, and unnecessary tensions.

We are truly blessed to be living in societies where each individual doesn't have to have the responsibility of doing all the things.  It leaves a lot of room for freedom of expanding in the things we are personally interested in.

So just enjoy the possibility that you can find a role in society that you find fulfilling to you.  And appreciate that there are plenty of other roles that people can fill that are fulfilling to them in their own ways.
​
And leave it at that.

but we've gotten them all mixed up.

As a woke progressive liberal, I have a lot to say about what's going on in the U.S. and the world politically, and I think it's very important for people to be politically knowledgeable and active.

But so many people are already saying the things that need to be said here on social media.  And now we need to be taking action on those things by calling government representatives, boycotting stuff, and not abandoning our posts without legal warrants, etc.

So instead of rehashing what's already been well said, I will use my skillset to talk about some other things that are still important to our lives.  Because I think it is also important that we all have safe places to take some breaks from our politics for our mental and social health.

I believe we have made a huge mistake in conflating politics with entertainment.  Fox News Media is the clearest example of this, but it's really all over the place on both the right and the left, and it's why we fill up our social media feeds with "hot takes" on everything,
because it stimulates us the way pure entertainment used to.

This causes three problems:

• we end up not giving politics the sober seriousness it actually needs

• we lose the escapism of pure entertainment as it becomes poisoned by the stress of real-life problems

• politics itself becomes exaggerated, extreme, and deceitful to compete in the space of emotional excitement engagement

So please call your representatives in Congress to take action, and try to keep up with the news through reputable news channels like AP, Reuters, etc., instead of social media, Tucker, or Trevor.  Go ahead and do a little venting on your social media and talk it out with your trusted friends.  And then take a break to watch a movie, read a book, watch a sports game, walk your dog, pet your cat, and get out of your head for a moment.

I do this for myself mostly through reading fantasy novels, watching Disney Plus, and playing with my three crazy-cute kittens.  I also facilitate this for others by hosting immersive D&D role-playing adventures and trying not to mirror current events in the storylines (which is becoming more challenging these days, but I do my best).

But please, for your health and society, find ways to disentangle and de-link politics from entertainment by actually taking some action and then immersing yourself in real escapism a little each day.