We should build, not destroy ...

This past fall there was devastating flooding in some areas of our state of Washington. One of our members who lives in a rural area described the impact of the flooding on his community and then shared about how he and his neighbors didn’t wait for the government, they just got together and helped each other. Since I come from a rural area, I agreed that it is a good thing for people to help one another. Later, it hit me what he said about not waiting for the government. The government is not some outside group, it is us. The neighbors joining together for the common good is the government. What we usually point to as the government is really elected community representatives who hire specialists to do the things we don’t know how to do (purify water) or don’t have the time to do (pave roads) using shared resources (taxes).

I often hear a similar statement regarding WEA, our union. The WEA is not them, it is us. It is easy to be cynical and throw stones — talk radio thrives on negativity — but as educators we should be building, not destroying. As I moved from position to position in the organization, from building to local, to state to national, I found open doors and welcome embraces. I believe it was because I was willing to work to build something better.

So when you hear someone bashing educators, public schools or government, ask yourself before you join in: is this building something good, or just destroying? I am on the side of the builders. How about you?