The Human Element: Sydney The Teacher

Recently I overheard a woman lamenting about recovering from her week of work. We eventually sparked up a conversation. She's a teacher near retirement and says she's seen both the city and classroom change since she started teaching in the 1970's.

She can't believe that schools are now serving dinner. She recalls the state's breakfast starting, then the state lunch. When working in a particular low-income part of Los Angeles, she had to figure out what to do when kids would come to school with empty stomachs. She taught them how to make meals out of simple things they had at home. Kids would come to school with a note asking her to sew buttons and repair torn clothes; another lesson.

She admitted the 'system' is broken. I agreed to a certain extent. I mentioned how in primitive cultures everyone had a part in raising the next generation. I spoke about how the elders in the community were usually the leaders because of their wealth of experience and accumulated wisdom. I also talked about how there was no such thing as some members of society being in want because everyone was working together. I was outlining the native cultures to the land currently called America.

She said she was Cherokee! I said she surely knows what I'm talking about. She then recalled how a young relative on the reservation desired a new drum to play music on. An elder, instead of going to the store to buy him a drum, proposed to the young man he learn how to make a drum. He taught the youth about where the parts of a drum come from opportunity to teach life lessons

When we are involved in the world around us and its people is when we realize our place and responsibility.