Education, Environment, and Labor: Points of Focus on This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our joys and sorrows, individually and collectively, but it’s also a time to move on. The elections of 2024 are behind us, in the US and elsewhere. Outcomes of close elections arise from a myriad of factors, some more obvious and others less apparent, so hasty conclusions are more likely to be wrong than right. Opinion makers should hold off. Looking forward, this writing focuses on an area of concern, one of challenge, and another of opportunity.
Education. One reason the US continues to be among the more thriving in the world is because of its public K-12 education system. The system makes education widely and freely accessible to most children. Public education in the US receives its support from various sources at all levels from local school districts to the federal government. The American public loves its schools for the most part. There is no imminent danger that the federal Department of Education that sets national standards will be eliminated, despite such talk. That public education will be undermined through artificial culture wars, parochial interests, and lack of funding is a serious concern.
Environment. Except for the few who are completely closed to the idea that humans have a role to play in global warming, it is apparent that there is an increasing danger to the planet through climate change. Across the world, both the intensity and frequency of heat waves and storms continue to rise causing chronic suffering and catastrophes. Even if the entire world is unified in its determination, combating climate change is a massive challenge. Lack of China and US leadership to show willingness to act on this front could make the challenge nearly insurmountable.
Workers and unions. A surprising place of opportunity in the US is for Democrats and Republicans to come together to act in the best interests of the workforce — with a concern not just for American workers but for workers across the world. When workers are happier with their conditions, they migrate less across businesses and across countries. Both parties have courted workers and unions in the recent election, and the incoming Labor Secretary is known to be a supporter. Whether massive business interests will overwhelm that support remains to be seen but it is possible that there is a bipartisan opening on this front.
Giving. It’s the time of the year for giving. When giving, let us consider avenues and places where we will help people who are unlike us yet who are very much, also us. Maybe they don’t look like us. Maybe they don’t speak our language. Maybe they worship different Gods from us or no Gods at all. The more we can see all people in the world as a part of us the less we otherize them and their challenges. Can we not agree that all children deserve happiness — migrant children and children in trouble spots, such as Gaza, and that there are no lesser children?
Happy Thanksgiving!
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