OK, I hope you had enough time to digest the moral of my experience yesterday, because it could be applied elsewhere. I was driving home from dropping Evan off at school and thought, "Gee, think of how much more international political clout the US could gain by applying the same idea: helping others helps us too!" I then thought about the book The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, by Ron Suskind. O'Neill, Bush's first secretary of the treasury goes to Africa with Bono. When he sees the squalor that many people live in he asks (and I paraphrase) "Why are they living like this?" And Bono responds (again paraphrasing) "One of the biggest problems is water, there just isn't enough water." So, O'Neill says, that wouldn't be a problem. It is rather inexpensive to drop a well into the ground and pump up some water. When he returned to the states and proposed the idea to the administration, they responded by saying, "If we give water to some people, then everyone will want it." Well, yeah! It's water! You need it to survive. And think of how much better US relations would be if we helped people gain fresh supplies of water?
Decided last minute to see Evan sing at the 5th grade "graduation" today. It was sweet, each of the three kindergarten classes sang a little something for the 5th graders as a sort of farewell. The 5th graders and the kindergartners form a sort of bond as the fifth grade students are "book buddies" for their kindergarten counterparts. It was really sweet. But I had a hard time not thinking of Michelle's mom. She was a 5th grade teacher - she lived for teaching. It was hard to see these kids and not think of all the kids whose life she touched and enriched. Although she retired a few years ago, it is still sad to think of what the kids at Atkinson School will be missing.
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