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Showing posts with the label empathy

Build The Wall, End Sanctuary City’s & Be Compassionate / #DACA #politicalscience #criticalthinking #empathy #socialresponsibility #positivedisruption

Has the United States government allowed or failed to retain foreign access to its Southern border, thus allowing millions of individuals to enter the country illegally, rather than through legal processes and channels? In 2009, I visited the Central American country of Guatemala. A land steeped in culture, history and a population of citizens living in striking contrast to one another. Whereas the indigenous population of Mayan-descent Guatemalans have largely managed to retain customs and ways traditional to the indigenous ways of the mountainous and volcanic land, Guatemalan cities teem with an economic reality that exemplifies class inequality and stark social-economic class differences. On the front page of the morning newspaper I read about legislators nonchalantly telling the local media that they showed up at 11 am in the morning for work and not sooner because none of the other legislators ever showed up earlier than that time. My then-brother-in-law at the time, commen...

Ever The Gentleman / a review of #CharlesDickens ‘David Copperfield’ #literature #classics #criticalthinking

What is my Lord but the light in my life his spirit sais unto my spirit come reign with me It was started under such unfortunate circumstances, and flourished against all odds. The life of a fatherless and motherless boy, who’s worth was scarcely valued that above an indentured servant. A mere trifle of a living, breathing thing, unvouched for and put aside without regard, was David Copperfield. A humanity stripped down to its most elemental form, a picture of how apathy destroys life, family and community. Silent heart-whispers of how alignment to God’s will still works in ‘modern life’ from the most seemingly impossible positions; beautifully turning misfortune into the best kind of fortune. Such was the beginning of the life of David Copperfield, the protagonist in English author, Charles Dickens’ classic story by the same name. Family, in its most beneficial form, creates a comfort of love, respect and safety giving space to the developmental possibility o...

The Critical Thinker Upholds The Perfect Law of Liberty / #positivedisruption #empathy #TeamUSA

In the best of moments, so many of us come together under an ideology that literally makes us as if one family. Bonded through ideas and the history of all that we have accomplished in order to see that idea upheld. In the worst of moments, some of us devolve into hate and vitriol, violence and unreasonableness. Those who have been allowed great position to amplify voice, reason and thought seem to misstep, appearing to fan the flames of animosity, brazenly showing that they are steered by single-minded people and agenda-focused entities bent on upturning the very liberties, freedoms and common thoughts which have glued us together, in spite of all our faults. America is not some failed experiment. America is not an impossible dream, but a real dream. It is a waterfall of dreams coming into reality every second. The waterfall itself upheld by a core mass of collected thought that does rest on the Judeo-Christian concept of the perfect biblical law of liberty. An intracta...

Re-Threading The American Quilt / #socialgood #socent #socialresponsibility

updated 9:48 am 4/7/17 Yesterday I entered a level four maximum security jail. I had a volunteer interview with the chaplain there. I saw no inmates and only entered into the administrative section of the jail to have a conversation with the chaplain on my social enterprise proposal. We discussed the viability of a key component of my proposal, that of physically revitalizing the Bridgeport, Ct. playgrounds after a collaborative grant search and acquisition of funds to purchase new equipment, along with any possible training needed for the first round of inmates I would theoretically be working with. The idea is to have the men give back to the community and to themselves by beautifying the communal environment of the city and therein, through their work, that they do ‘soul work’ in the process of the physical exertion and mission of the endeavor. To this the chaplain let me down gently, explaining that though my proposal was a good one, given the security level of the jai...

The Power Of Love / #brotherskeeper #altruism #empathy #servantleadership

“…but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” The Acts 10:28b And what business are we to be about? The Lord said to be about his business. Is it to one-up each other for advantage in a battle of ideas and political will? What is this business that God directs us to? In Psalm 51:17, God spoke through David and said that he cares not for the sacrifices of burnt animal offerings, for what is he to do with that? Incense is nothing to him, in fact, the nations are but a drop in the bucket to Him. Instead, the Lord sais that the sacrifices he seeks are a brokenhearted and contrite spirit that seeketh His face, to do his commandments with a cheerful heart. With that attitude, God will gladly accept all that we give unto Him. To do his business is truly to heal the brokenhearted, to bind up the wounds of each other, to bring light into each others life… to do good without looking for a recompense or a credit from man.  Recently,...

Is the teacher or the student mainly responsible for creating educational success?

Is it the responsibility of the teacher or the student to pave the road for success in the education environment? What happens in the physical education class of twenty students whereby seven have above average gross-motor skills, ten are right on, and three seem to fall behind? In a school setting with a forty-five minute class duration, the impetus is for the teacher to ‘run’ the class as best as possible, rather than teach to the lowest common denominator. ‘Stragglers’ can tend to ‘fall behind,’ and soon enough class is over. This can repeat over and over again, week after week, semester after semester.  What happens to the three students after many classes is that they begin to develop a sense of failure which is confirmed by the teachers continued approach in orchestrating the class. Is the student at fault or is it the responsibility of the teacher to better integrate these three into the class? As a teacher of thirteen years and a father of three, I alwa...

How do we meet apathy and positively disrupt is as whole country? / #socialentrepreneurship #socent #America #empathy #positivedisruption

Is social entrepreneurship a giant key to opening up new energies for the United States of America? Could it be a collective answer by the country to respond to many of the disheartening events and circumstances that have become a part of the American experience? How do we answer the rise of mass-murder tragedies?  Do we not have to meet apathy with empathy at some point? How do you impact the culture to cause a small, yet seismic shift in focus? We Work Together Something close to the answer of those questions is integrating revolutionary thought with capitalistic principles. Some call these kinds of people unstoppable in pursuing the empowerment of others on an individual and group-level. Younger generations are motivated to serve their local, national and even global communities in creative ways that make life better for individuals. Social Entrepreneurs, or self-employed individuals who’s missions are aimed at alleviating or rectifying the pligh...

The Wounded Warrior Project: The Holistic #Empowerment of Bands of Soldiers / #positivedisruption @wwp

As a performance-based Special Educator and Executive Function Skills Coach it is imperative to have a healthy understanding of the best instructional practices, methods and strategies in relation to the students one coaches. Consequently, identifying and implementing practical, novel approaches that can be easily incorporated by students and their support system is a must. Not only that, being able to convey these in an understandable effective and efficient manner so that they are carried out successfully in the coaches absence is a priority. In light of these points of frame, the search, experimentation, practice and polishing off of contextual activities buttressing the development of cranial connectivity between right and left hemispheres and the prefrontal cortex where our executive function skill abilities fire off is paramount to my work. To this end, the use of the below activities create a ‘back-door approach’ to distill the strenuous development of our cognitive sk...