After two years of searching for my dream job, I came to the realization that I need to do something more. While I know that making a darn good latte is making a positive impact on the world - one customer at a time, it's not quite the the difference I'm looking to make.
So, as my last post title suggests, I decided to start with me. . . As positive as I think I am about not going into teaching, I decided I would just look into what I might need to do to reinstate my teaching certificate. It's been TEN years since I had graduated college and earned my degree, so I was fully expecting ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) to tell me that I need tons of classes and would have to pay large back fines. But, no. I would need to pay a $55 back fee and take five credit hours at any college or university. Any Education classes would do. Really?! $55 and two classes?! Really?! That's all it would take for them to allow me to teach after all this time. Quite frankly, I was stunned. How could I not do it? So, in a very brave moment I signed up at Oakton Community College and began to look for my first class. YIKES! College again after ten years. I'm too old for this!
There must be some divine powers at work telling me to reinstate my certificate after all this time - because I found the perfect class. It is called Peace Education. The class totally fits in with my desire to go into a non-profit. The first day of class we watched a video about the desegregation of schools in the south. It occurred to me after watching the video that the civil rights movement, the main push for equality took place in the 1950s & 60s. But weren't slaves freed in the 1800s? Yes, slaves were freed in 1865 after the Civil War. About a hundred years after the slaves were freed, the United States were still segregating blacks & whites. Watching the video I was disgusted at the way some whites were so resistant to allowing black students into their schools and how horribly mistreated those students were. After 100 years. 100 years! I know I've gotten all of this information before and even seen different pieces of movie clips from the civil rights movement. But this time it finally clicked for me the tremendous amount of time that America has been battling racism. But even today in 2009 there is still so much prejudice and racism. How long will this continue?
It's not just the prejudice and racism though. It's poverty and hunger and disease and illiteracy and abuse and on and on. . .
According to The Talmud in a quote from one of my class books, "It is not for you to complete the task but neither are you free to abstain from it."
I want to do something about all of this. No. I NEED to do something about it. I truly believe that we were all put on this planet for a purpose and I can't help but feel my purpose is to make a positive diffrence in this world, whatever that may be.
This class has given me hope.
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