Where’s the chalk?
“And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.” Exodus 4:15 KJV
The shop was clean and quiet. The tools were all in their proper places. It wouldn’t be long before the saws would be buzzing and the room would have sawdust coating the floor. The nails would feel the pain of the hammers that came crashing on their heads. Such were the adventures of the Vo-Tech Carpentry classes I would take in high school. I learned how to build bookshelves, picnic tables, and other wooden objects.
The key word is “learned.” In order to learn you have to have someone with patience, knowledge, and the unique knack of being able to communicate teaching you. My Vo-Tech teacher was an older gentleman named Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson must have been a pretty good teacher because I have all kinds of wooden projects scattered throughout my house and yard. Just ask my wife.
He was a giant of a man, although he was probably just exiting his teens. I’m sure, when he walked into that classroom that first day of his teaching career, his students looked in awe at his towering figure. They mainly spoke Spanish. He, pretty much, only spoke English. Many of his student’s families came from Mexico and they were looked down upon by most Americans. Although they were very hard workers, poverty often resided with them.
That first teaching job started at a Mexican-American school in Cotulla, Texas. He soon realized that most of his student’s hunger was not just for knowledge, but also for food. Many could not even afford to feed their kids breakfast before they headed off to school. His heart sank for them. It would probably be an interesting survey to follow-up on his students and see how they turned out. I wonder if they had permanent records back then?
Being a teacher and being a student go hand in hand. In order to be a good teacher you must first learn the material yourself. Thus, you must become the student before you become the teacher. Other than most politicians, most people, especially teacher, realize students have different talents and learning abilities. Natural gifts, family interests and passions, job markets, and government pressures all play a role in education, too.
Uzziah was just sixteen years old when he became king of Judah. The son of a king, he sat there with no idea of what was in front of him. His father was dead and now the people wanted him to be their king. When most boys are chasing young girls and playing baseball, he was tasked with the project of taking care of his country. So, how does a sixteen year old boy learn to rule a country as king? I guess he needs a good teacher.
Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society preached of social enhancements for those less fortunate. From his teaching days I’m sure he felt the children of the less fortunate should not have to travel down the gravel, pot-hole-lined roads that their parents were on. He wanted to pave their roads with the opportunity not afforded them anywhere else on earth. Although some chose to stay in their environments, through lack of effort, many more wanted their conditions to improve. Though many knew how to take advantage of the system, their children are the start of the improvement in the work ethic the nation needed. Subsidizing poverty was not the aim. Lifting people out of poverty was the goal.
So, how do you take a society and raise it out of poverty? As a country we seem to have two very different opinions on that. I’m not sure either one is absolutely right nor absolutely wrong. Like most issues today, both sides dig into their trenches and refuse to move. One side looks at it as throwing money at the problem, yet they fail to offer any solutions to the problem. The other side gets overly sympathetic and requires no responsibility. The ultimate result is that we still have poverty. Each side looks at the other and proudly claims victory, “See, I told you so. Your way wouldn’t work.” I’m not sure who wins, but I know who loses: society as a whole.
There are several Zechariahs mentioned in the Bible. Among the Zechariahs are: the father of John the Baptist (who was speechless until he wrote down to name his son John), the 14th King of Israel (for 6 months in 746 BC), and the Prophet (520 BC through 518 BC), whom the Old Testament Bible Book is either by and/or about. There is at least one more Zechariah in the Bible, too. He was a prophet, too, but in a different time period than the Prophet mentioned above. This Zechariah taught Uzziah that as long as he followed God he would prosper. Uzziah, the sixteen year old king was one of the few good kings. That was until he stopped following Zechariah’s instructions. Zechariah must have been a good teacher, because when Uzziah followed his instructions, Uzziah prospered. When Uzziah didn’t follow Zechariah’s instructions he failed.
Throughout our history several of our Presidents have risen out of poverty and become the leader of our nation. How is it that some people can rise up out of the worst situations, like poverty, and others seem to stay stuck in their situations? Is it an inner instinct or drive? Is it just the luck of the draw? Is it a random lottery, where some souls are born into good families, while others lose and go to poorer families? Maybe the answer lies with those teachers, good and bad, who cross our paths. They take those things that drive us and fertilize them and make them grow or they stomp on our weaknesses and crush any hope we have of overcoming our frustrations. Each individual is different, so that complicates things. Some are driven by that hard teacher and will do anything to prove they can be bigger than the problem at hand. Others, who are crushed by that tactic, need a hand to hold to lead them in the direction they need to go. The most successful of these don’t take the teacher with them once they learn. No, a lesson learned is a lesson applied. Dependence on the teacher only leads to retention.
As a nation, I believe we fail miserably when it comes to poverty. Success stories tug at our hearts instead of being an expectation of our actions. We complain about the person in front of us using food stamps (or whatever they are called today), yet, who takes these people by the hand and shows them how to get out of their situation? We can shout as loud as we want, “Make them get a job,” but what type of normal employer is going to hire an uneducated person who can’t afford to dress properly to impress, much less knows how to participate in the interviewing process? How is someone to know the value of being on time, when they have parents that come in at all hours of the night, if they come in at all? No, we don’t lack dollars to help people out of poverty; we lack teachers to teach them how to get out of poverty.
Prayer: Father, Throughout my life I have been blessed with some really amazing teachers. Although I had some really amazing teachers in school, some of the best were the ones I crossed in my everyday life that taught me the really important stuff, like how to get and do a job. But I’m the most thankful to the ones who have taught me how to live for You. Amen.
