I did a guest activity with my son's 5th grade class where I talked with them about rights. I had learned that they were studying the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, half of which are not rights at all. I wanted to do a little damage control for their young minds, so I asked the teachers if I could give a talk, and surprisingly they said yes.
Anyway, apropos of your point that "A beginner's mind has something to teach us"…I was BLOWN AWAY by the sophisticated innate understanding of rights that all children possess. It was a life-changing 90 minutes!
I tell the story in the preface of my book (which, gosh darn it, I have to finish editing and publish!). I will excerpt it next week, make a post, and let you know.
That was a lovely and funny little story, a perfect example of the joy children can experience and bring into your adult life if you’re lucky enough to have or know some -- and smart enough to roll with their games.
I have one question about the post, though. Asked in all seriousness and respect, and only because you included that graph to drive the point home. Why do you have a problem with the postal service losing money?
It’s a service designed to support our polity in an important, maybe vital way. It would almost certainly be impossible to do it profitably without pricing lots of usage out, and keeping costs low enough to allow most everyone to use it even for minor things is part of the basic mission.
In this sense it’s like the armed forces. No one expects the military to run at a profit. They think of it as a vital service that they pretty happily pay for. Why must the postal service be judged differently?
Thank you for sharing. I think that you must be a wonderful father. Hearing you talk brings back memories of my own life.
I did a guest activity with my son's 5th grade class where I talked with them about rights. I had learned that they were studying the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, half of which are not rights at all. I wanted to do a little damage control for their young minds, so I asked the teachers if I could give a talk, and surprisingly they said yes.
Anyway, apropos of your point that "A beginner's mind has something to teach us"…I was BLOWN AWAY by the sophisticated innate understanding of rights that all children possess. It was a life-changing 90 minutes!
You have to write this up! If you have already, please share here.
I tell the story in the preface of my book (which, gosh darn it, I have to finish editing and publish!). I will excerpt it next week, make a post, and let you know.
That was a lovely and funny little story, a perfect example of the joy children can experience and bring into your adult life if you’re lucky enough to have or know some -- and smart enough to roll with their games.
I have one question about the post, though. Asked in all seriousness and respect, and only because you included that graph to drive the point home. Why do you have a problem with the postal service losing money?
It’s a service designed to support our polity in an important, maybe vital way. It would almost certainly be impossible to do it profitably without pricing lots of usage out, and keeping costs low enough to allow most everyone to use it even for minor things is part of the basic mission.
In this sense it’s like the armed forces. No one expects the military to run at a profit. They think of it as a vital service that they pretty happily pay for. Why must the postal service be judged differently?