Thursday, October 04, 2007

What Christianity is All About



As I watched Bono accepted the NAACP Chairman's Award, I was inspired to think that an Irish Rocker from Dublin - along with three others - has been able to inspire the world with his message of compassion and respect for human beings all over the world. And more than give the man accolades for his accomplishments, I think of how this man's heart has been captured by what means the most in our world: promoting the dignity and honour of humanity.

There are a lot of things said about Christianity that cause one to think whether it holds the answer for the future of our world. Some things are truly embarrassing and misrepresent what this religion has been about as explained and portrayed by Jesus of Nazareth. Those embarrassments have caused people to look away. But the truth about Christianity lies in what Bono says in his acceptance speech at the NAACP Awards.

Christianity has always been about the foundation of love established by Jesus Christ that renews and recovers our world from the evil that so debilitates it. As a fellow Christian I could not be more proud of my brother, Paul Hewson [Bono] for his strength and courage to act on behalf of those who have no one to speak for them and remind us of the power God has given us as human beings to help others and make our world a place worth living in!

I applaud you Bono for not falling into the temptation of self-aggrandizement but using your influence to help those who truly need help in our world. God's face does shine on you. Its people like you that encourage me to know that what I believe is real and holds the true hope for the future of humanity and our planet.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Learning for the Future

Experiential Learning ....




This scene in the movie, The Guardian, is one of the best examples I've seen in film that portrays what experiential learning is all about. These coast guard trainees could have spent hours in the classroom studying the various stages of hypothermia and learning about what happens to a person throughout these stages but nothing replaces them actually going through the stages themselves and feeling what its like. That's experiential learning.

We're going to see a lot more of this kind of learning in the future. Students today want to not only gather head knowledge but they especially want to learn by experience. The more we can tailor education with continual opportunities for experiential learning the more success we will have in passing on the knowledge and experience to the next generation. The only way to truly ensure that what we teach others is absorbed and put into practice is to put the student into real settings that cause them to experience and so be able to explain from their own experience what they learn.

I know some may say right about this point that some things cannot be experienced. I'm trying to work that one out myself. What knowledge besides trivial facts that play no part in the real experience of everyday life, cannot be experienced? I understand that there needs to be class time and I'm not disputing it but when I want someone to get something I want to know that they got it. Simply hearing me tell others does not ensure they get it. When I hear others explain from their own experience then I know they get it.

One of the greatest ways of learning that has survived the ages is what we call today "job-shadowing." Making time for the novice to walk alongside us to watch what others do and to be involved with those who have spent years doing what the novice wants to learn to do as well. I think our co-op programs in our colleges and universities are capitalizing on this time tested method of learning. Mentoring programs facilitate this kind of learning as well. And those that have done an excellent job of teaching others have been masters at having novices hang around.

As a teacher, what moved me about what was portrayed in the clip above was that the instructor was involved with the students in experiencing something that he himself experienced many times before. Knowing the limits of such an experience and providing a safe, controlled environment to experience it, he gave those students something they would never learn in the classroom.

We need classrooms, and we need knowledge, but we also need to provide those who want to learn with the necessary experiences that will allow them to understand the reality of their world and their place in it. The future depends on it.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Pressing the "Easy" Button

As I'm thinking about the future, I recall those Staples Business Depot commercials where a person presents a difficult problem and another person offers them the "easy" button to press. Of course I get the "tongue in cheek" and I love recalling this commercial to my co-workers and students that I teach when they come to me with their difficulties.

One thing is for sure about the future - it doesn't come with the simple push of the "easy" button! If we want success in the future [whatever it may be: in relationships, in our business, in our personal endeavors] it will demand hard work. Like anything in this life, good things come to those who role up their sleeves and make it happen. Its clear that we've been given a large degree of control in our western society over our own future. We grumble about our politicians and about high gas prices but compared to the rest of the world, we enjoy a considerable amount of freedom that other don't have. I think with such a privilege comes responsibility.

I know I sound heavy, but realistically too many things in our present life are taken far too lightly and if we want a bright future we need to step up to the plate and work toward it. One very effective way of doing so is to work with others toward common goals for the benefit of society. We "western" people have the ability to affect change not only in our own "neck of the woods" but also around the world. We've been reminded by Al Gore that our environmental behaviour [both good and bad] does affect the rest of the world. I'm glad people like him are waking us up [some of you may have liked the Oscar performance of the song] to the need for us to be serious about our actions and be much more intentional about how we are going to live and what we will focus on today for the sake of tomorrow.

A bright future does not happen overnight. We need to realize that the freedom and productivity that we presently enjoy in our world comes at the price of those who invested into our future a long time ago. These were people who fought insurmountable battles so that we could enjoy what we do today. My grandfather always reminds me that we were born 'in the flowers.' By reminding me, I understand what he wants me to realize: that his early life was no where near as easy as mine and that his generation paid a great price [sacrifici] so that we could be born among "the flowers."

I think its high time we stop the nonense about looking for an "easy" way out and set our minds and hearts together to build the future so that others [our children - the next generation] can enjoy the world we purposely built for them. Just for fun - stop by a Staples store and find the aisle where they sell the "easy" button. Go ahead and press it and then see what happens? I don't think you'll be surprised at the results.