America is at war. And our enemy is not who you might think.  I am not talking about Afghanistan, Iraq or terrorists.  This war is bigger than that.  We are fighting for the hearts and minds of our own children and our foe is ignorance.  On the front lines of this conflict are our teachers.  They are the first line of defense.  They are the ones in the foxholes as the shelling goes on all around.  As they look a mortal enemy in the eye, the teachers refuse to surrender despite the odds against them.  The ammunition has been rationed.  The protective gear all but removed.  Now it seems that even their commanding officers have turned on them, but even as they are being set up to fail, they fight on.  For them teaching is more than a job.  It is a calling to infuse the world with knowledge so in the future, wars caused by ignorance, will disappear.  It is a noble goal to impart wisdom to our children, even if it is unlikely that they will retain it. Teachers realize that the future is not our educational system, it is our children.

You see, teachers are being undermined.  Children do not take them seriously because parents do not.  Parents do not take them seriously because the media does not. The pendulum swings back and forth, and teachers catch the blame for decisions made by those that have not been inside a classroom. Like the front line troops in Iraq, who fight despite the debates that swirl around them in the public square, teachers must continue the battle as they smile and nod.

Currently, the budgets are being analyzed all over Georgia.  Money is tight and the high command is making some changes to our schools.  However, those in the military will tell you the best commanders are those that talk to the troops.  This is not to say they allow the soldiers to make strategic decisions; but rather that they have a finger on the pulse of those actually fighting the battle.  Ultimately, the General must make decisions based on a whole body of information that the men on the line know nothing about. Yet, the morale of the troops must be taken into consideration and a long term strategy must be used.  To make changes without thinking through them completely will not aid the cause of knowledge.  In fact, it will support the very enemy we are trying to defeat.

Our Governor is proposing some alterations to education in Georgia that do not make sense strategically.  There is a move to do away with school nurses in order to balance the budget.  Would you take medics away from our soldiers?  Not likely.  Nurses in the schools do not simply hand out band-aids and Tylenol any longer.  They work with asthmatic students, distribute ADHD medication, handle broken bones, deal with lice, and assist the growing number of diabetic students.  If a student needs to be catheterized, the nurses do it.  To ask teachers to do this type of medical procedure is not only irresponsible, it invites liability issues.  School nurses are vital to the mission of our schools.  Healthy students are more likely to learn than those who are not.

Another budget saving proposal on the table is to increase class sizes “for one year.”  Didn’t we just decrease class size because it was better for our students?  Now are we saying that we were wrong; that class size doesn’t really matter after all? What about the research that shows students learn more if sizes are smaller?  The first low class size mandate was passed off on the local systems to fund.  Now that the state is in trouble, their eyes have been opened to see how expensive it is to reduce class sizes. Maybe someone should have considered the cost BEFORE signing a mandate. Again we are battling ourselves with policies that change with the blowing of the wind.

The change that teachers are most concerned with is the removal of pay for Nationally Board Certified Teachers.  The teachers that have earned this certification worked tirelessly to finish the stringent program, even paying for it themselves.  It was an incentive by the state to increase the pay of teachers that completed the requirements.  It would make better teachers, which would make better schools.  Sounds good. The problem is that so many teachers went through the program it made the cost prohibitive. So the first bomb to drop after many teachers had already completed the program was the requirement that these teachers must work in a needs improvement school in order to get the pay incentive.  Meaning that they would be required to change schools each time a school improved.  Only those that were grandfathered in continued to receive the incentive.  Now the governor is taking away that pay, which is equivalent to taking away an advanced degree.  What is next…taking away specialists and masters degrees? 

At the same time this pay is being cut and the salary steps are being frozen for all teachers, principals are being offered an increased pay incentive based on how well their school performs.  The governor also is introducing a “master teacher” incentive that rewards teachers that go through his “master teacher” program.  Pardon me, but many teachers have already been through the national board certification.  Many more have earned masters’ and specialists’ degrees.  Do the legislators really believe that teachers are going to trust in a new incentive program that requires them to re-do graduate level work to get the same pay they had?  Is it wise, during a recession, to add more incentives that will have to be funded while cutting programs in other areas?

  The argument has been made that research shows Nationally Board Certified Teachers do not increase student achievement.  Would it be too much to ask for the governor to site that research study?  (Also, if we follow that logic we could make the argument that the legislators haven’t been able to balance the budget in years, so maybe their pay incentives should be cut. Ah, but that topic is another article for another day.)

The bottom line is that while all the cutting and arguing is going on at the capitol, the children are the ones loosing. The legislative tug of war pulls back and forth while the battlefield is littered with those that gave up on knowledge.  They drop out of the system that has failed them, never to return.  The teachers try to hold the ground that is slowly crumbling beneath their feet.  They are looking to the future with the hope that one day it will be safe to climb out of their foxholes victoriously…ignorance forever banished from the lives of the children they fought to teach.

          Today was a historical moment in time.  Our children will remember it as the day the first African American became president of the United States.  And while I am not particularly an Obama fan, I must admit I was taken by the fact that in my life time black people have gone from being viewed as little more than animals, to holding the highest office in the land.  America truly is the land of opportunity.  I watched some of the coverage and saw tears rolling down faces of all colors.  The fact that it was the day after MLK Jr. Day made the moment even more poignant.  The faces of those that were beaten, and spit on back in the 60’s were the most memorable.  A generation that fought hard with courage was rewarded today to see a black man sworn into office.  I am struck by the fact that even in our own country we are continually striving for freedom for all.

 I think that freedom seekers are created by God.  Christ died to set us free.  His purpose for us is to live free from the oppressions that attempt to bind us.  The African American people are a physical example of a spiritual truth.  The enemy wants us to be slaves to him, just as the black people were enslaved during Civil War times.  He does not like it when we begin to realize we do not have to submit to his power over our lives.  We begin to see that there is a better way…a way to be free.  We seek the Lord’s face and his power begins our journey to wholeness and freedom.  I am not talking about the ability to do whatever we want.  No, my definition of freedom is different than that.

 Freedom knows that you deserved death but got life.  It is accepting yourself as flawed, while receiving the love that surpasses those flaws…even uses them for good.  It is unconditional acceptance by the God of the universe.  It surpasses political gain, wealth, and a “whatever” attitude.  It has nothing to do with how people treat you on the outside and everything to do with what you believe on the inside.  We could ask the slaves about that one.  Or ask those that were in the concentration camps. Or perhaps the underground churches of China. I am not diminishing the hardships they faced.  Heavens no.  The circumstances were and are horrific, inexcusable.  I am simply pointing out that the heart of hope that continued to beat despite the trials is where true freedom resides. That God given desire to be accepted as we are and loved any way, is built into each of us.  And we will run after it.  We will fight for it.  We will die for it. 

Even as we sit in our comfortable American lives we instinctively know there is more to freedom than prosperity.  I think that we are going to learn that in new ways in the near future.  Hardships cut to the heart of the matter.  How free do you want to be?  Do you desire it enough to allow God to take you to your knees?  Today was a picture of how far the God given desire for freedom can take you, but it was not without cost.  The fact is that freedom begins with humility and the realization that only God can release the captives.  I pray that our captivity leads us to true freedom…

I sent beg bug survival kits back to Berry with Hannah.  Each one had a custom made t-shirt with Berry Bed Bug Dodging Team and a bed bug with a Viking hat written on it.  They also included a toddler pounding toy that is a bed with bed bugs in it and a hammer to hit them with.  I wrote a special beg bug chant; all to welcome the girls back and to poke fun at a difficult problem.  I was hoping that it would build some humor and start the new semester off with light-hearted fun.  Hannah said every one loved the bags and laughed like crazy.  I was pleased. 
This morning Hannah called quite early...7:45.  She has so many bites she said it looks like she has the chicken pox in some places.  No joke.  Less than 24 hours back and she is covered.  I guess the bugs got hungry going a month without food!  I hear they can be dormant for up to a year or something without food...then when a food source is nearby they emerge to eat.  These little pests are frustrating to no end.  The good news is that Berry was able to find another room for Abby and Hannah to move to...permanently.  It is on 2nd West Mary...they were on 2nd East, so they are just a few rooms over into another hall.  Not too far from all their fellow bed bug buddies.  For a few hours today it looked as if they were going to be separated and put in completely different dorm locations.  Then God intervened...maybe due to the mothers prayers???  Anyway, it appears to have worked out and even though it is yet another transition, hopefully it will be the last dealings with the dreaded bugs...at least for us.  You can pray for  the rest of the girls on the hall.  Now that the food source has moved on, the bugs may decide to as well.  There are still 3 or 4 rooms of the 8 on the hall, that are still occupied.  The college is running out of places to put girls that need a new room. 

I have added the bed bug war chant that I wrote for the survival kits for your enjoyment...the spacing is a little weird but you get the idea.

                                                                            Bed Bugs, Bed bugs out of sight,

                                                                                    Only till the dead of night,
        
                                                                                     When out you crawl to be fed

Filling us with hate and dread.

 

Bed bugs, Bed bugs are a pain,

We’ll not rest until they’re slain,

Packing, spraying, every day,

Bed bugs, bed bugs go away!

 

Bed bugs, Bed bugs we’ve got news,

You are doomed, that’s our view,

We’re the girls of second East,

Not afraid of little beasts.

 

Bed Bugs, Bed bugs we’ve had enough,

You are dead, cause we are tough.

We’ve out lasted the likes of you,

Now we say that you are through.

 

Bed bugs, bed bugs say good night,

You’ll not see the morning light,

No more hassles, no more moves,

Cause Berry’s gotten rid of you!!!

 

It has been drizzling and misty for days with only a few brief glimpses of the sun.  Then at night, when the sun is down, the fog appears along the mountain roads.  It is thick enough that I cannot use high beams and low beams barely cut through it.  Eerie mist covers everything, creating glowing halos of white that surround street lights as I pass them.   I creep down the road sinking deeper and deeper in the mist the further from town I drive.  It is pea soup.  Trees and fences look like fuzzy sketches.  Street signs are not visible until I am a foot away.  This kind of fog occurs regularly around these curvy corners, but this week it has been worse than usual. Thicker. It is scary to think that it is this difficult to drive on the roads I know so well.  These are my well worn paths of daily life, yet I cannot make out where to turn or how the road bends.  It is as if I am a stranger.  You know how it is when you feel like something is familiar but you can’t quite recall the details?  That is how this feels.  I realize just how much I drive on automatic pilot each day when struggling to find our neighborhood on this damp night. I am concentrating on every little landmark as I move along in the murky haze. A scripture occurs to me inching along my way.  “Now we see dimly as in a mirror; then we will see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” I Cor. 13:12.   

Now I am thinking about how much we really do not know about God.  It is like this thick fog, only we don’t really understand that we are in it.  We are convinced we know how God works and how the world operates because it is familiar to us. Yet, if truth be told honestly, we are aware there is more going on than meets the eye.  Understanding how God functions during times of war is beyond us.  Knowing he is fully aware of all the political ramifications around the world, and even allows them, is too much for our small human brains to comprehend.  I think it is getting foggy in our world…or maybe we are just becoming aware of it.  It is hard to see where we are going as a country, as an economy, as a people. We can make out snippets here and there, but the big picture eludes us like light on a foggy night.  I believe that the fog is going to get thicker before the sun breaks through.  I also believe that God can see clearly, while we cannot.  I may know a few things now but the scripture promises that I shall one day know fully.  The best part of this scripture to me is that last part “even as I am fully known.”  I think every human has the desire to be fully known and loved…to belong.  This scripture promises that one day we will understand, but more importantly we will be known completely for who we are.  On that day, the fog will clear and all will see the Glory of God shining, breaking through the mist.  What a day that will be!