Education is Liberation

That is the bumper sticker that I looked up to find after I just had this awesome discussion about Native Americans with my professor. It is funny because a couple of months ago I would have had quite different thoughts about Native Americans. However, since I have taken this class I actually feel a bit embarrassed about what I use to think. And I guess it was all summed up by that bumper sticker. It was pretty awesome.

I am a pretty goal oriented person as you guys probably know and I do like knowing what I am striving for. However, I have decided that for the rest of my life I will only have two main goals. 1. To be more educated than I was the day before. And I don't mean math or science education. I mean 'people' education. I want to understand people so that I don't judge people. I want to understand why they are the way they are. Too often people want to characterize people as this or that, and I am as guilty as anyone. I guess it is just human nature. But no one can be characterized. Everyone is complex and equally indescribable. I know this isn't earth shattering stuff. Everyone pretty much understand these things. But from now on, I want to live it. 2. I want to embody the word, 'magnanimous'. I want to have the best spirit that I can possibly have. I am sure that sounds ridiculous but that is my hope. I want to remove the pettiness from my life and just live. Life is too complex to understand, but if I can just live beautifully and accept everyone's beauty I might actually be able to accomplish something.

I know all of this is a bit jumbled and kind of crazy, but ever since I have made that commitment, things have been terrific. Instead of negative things getting me down, I have been using them to lift me up. It all started with a discussion about a kid I coach. He got in trouble and the other coaches were telling me he is a dumbass and that you can't help kids like that. And it dawned on me, they were full of shit. Not only is he an awesome kid, but he can be helped. And so I decided to approach everything this way. I don't agree with the coaches but I think everything the said was coming out of frustration because of their own life experiences. No one in the situation is any certain way. So to me, the best thing to do is to just live positively and show them what being positive can do.

Well I am not sure any of that makes any sense. I am not always the best at articulating my thoughts. Especially, hurrying through this while I sit at the library. And its not like I am saying anything new or anything. Instead, I am just saying that I finally made the move to living like this and it has been great. And with it, I am going to kick some ass....positively.

-Alex