8 minute read
"Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive"
Falling in love has been a lifetime affair
How many times have you fallen in love? When was your first? What was your last? Do you recall how it felt to walk on air, trying to hide a goofy smile on your face, thinking nobody knew, but everybody did?
Some of us are slow to fall in love. I can do it in a heartbeat. I’ve had a lot of practice.
My first true love was my dad. I thought the sun rose and set in his eyes. He’s been gone for years, and I still think that.
I was 4 when I fell in love with my baby brother. He grabbed my thumb in his tiny fist and held on tight. And I decided, if need be, I would kill to protect him. He let go of my thumb, but never lost his grip on my heart.
In first grade, I fell for a boy named Clint. Our class elected us to run for king and queen of the Halloween Carnival and I started planning our wedding. He showed up at the carnival in a monkey costume. When we walked out on stage, he twirled his tail like a lasso. The crowd roared with laughter. And I did not love him anymore.
I can name every Mr. Right who ever won my heart. Some weren’t so right. A few were, well, wrong. I married only two.
My first marriage lasted 30 years and gave me three children who became my best friends and teachers in life. I fell in love with them every day, even when they acted like toads.
When the kids grew up, we lost their dad to cancer. And I found myself alone in a four bedroom house with five sets of dishes and nobody to feed.
It was the first time in my life I had ever been truly alone and it taught me several lessons: Cooking for one is no fun. It’s why God created restaurants.
If you need someone to talk to, be a good listener. In “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks’ best friend was a volley ball.
There are worse things than being alone. You’re in good company if you like yourself.
No two losses are the same, but every loss brings gifts. The best gift for me was this simple truth: People leave, but
love remains; you don’t need to be in the same room with someone to know you still love each other. In time, I learned to like being alone. My Sharon Randall kids and I were always close, and losing their dad brought us closer. I had family, friends, a job I loved and a faith that kept me whole. I never planned to remarry. Then, like the song says, I fooled around and fell in love. So I married my former editor. We share five children, their others, and nine grandchildren. Speaking of grandchildren (as I often do), I fell in love with them at first sight. You would, too, if you saw them. Why do babies tend to make us fall in love with them? Maybe we’re meant to fall in love with everyone, starting with babies and working up to old people, all ages, all races, all religions. Every morning I fall in love with a cup of coffee, the man who pours it, and the life we are blessed to share together. Day and night, I fall in love with family and friends trading messages, phone calls and visits. I fall for people I’ve never met, for readers who write to tell me about their lives, for people who do or don’t agree with me, and for every soul I read about in the news struggling to survive. I fall in love with the world – with its sunsets and dahlias and hummingbirds and a good peach cobbler. I don’t much care for gophers, snakes or tarantula hawk wasps. But I try. I fall in love as often as I can, knowing it might be my last chance. When my time here is up, I hope God will smile at how I’ve loved his creation and let me keep watching it from afar. It would be such a gift to get to see what my children and grandchildren will do with their lives, how they and their peers will right every wrong, solve every problem, that my generation left behind. I want forever to fall in love. How will you fall in love today? Sharon Randall is the author of “The World and Then Some.” She can be reached at P.O. Box 922, Carmel Valley, CA 93924, or at www.sharon randall.com.
Addressing First Amendment controversies in public schools
Two hot-button issues have recently emerged in the ongoing debate surrounding academic freedom and free speech in public schools.
One issue centers on concerns related to the inclusion of “critical race theory” in American school curricula (e.g., systemic racial discrimination in society). The other centers on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in favor of a former high school cheerleader who was punished by her school for posting profane comments about the school on Snapchat while she was off school grounds.
Both examples contain important implications for how public schools manage controversial issues.
Before addressing the merits of each, it is important to note that academic freedom and free speech are closely related legal concepts that have somewhat different implications for universities and public schools. The modern concept of academic freedom which emerged from 19th century German universities rests upon a broad intellectual landscape of ideas unconstrained by narrow partisan or political interests.
The U.S. Supreme Court stated, “Our nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendental value to us all and not merely to the teachers concerned. . . . The First Amendment does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.”
However, the application of academic freedom in public schools is less clear and continues to be a topic of debate practically, politically and in the courts. While the U.S. Supreme Court has largely avoided ruling on academic freedom cases in public schools, lower courts have provided considerable guidance. In general, lower courts have protected local school boards and their authority to make curricular decisions influenced by community values and needs.
Moreover, courts have ruled that public schools are subject to state legislative authority and must conform to the education laws and regulations enacted by the state.
Importantly, while cases relating to academic freedom typically focus on the behaviors and practices of professional educators, cases relating to freedom of speech (more generally) have rendered important implications for both educators and students. In recent years, court cases related to freedom of speech in public schools have leaned in favor of more student expression rather than less.
Nevertheless, this distinction is not razor-sharp, and the rights of public school students are not unlimited.
In the Supreme Court case involving the high school cheerleader, the content of the student’s speech was profane and objectionable. However, it did not rise to the level of a “material disruption” to the school. No one was threatened or slandered. Moreover, the student posted her comments from home on her personal computer on a widely used social network.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, “. . . sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary.” Brey-
er’s comment echoed the court’s earlier ruling that, “students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” The debate over critical race theory, also tethered to the First Amendment, is amplified most by differing political perspectives. Stephen Davis Importantly, state legislatures and Eye on education local school boards possess sole authority to determine what is taught and how. Individual schools, teachers, administrators and labor unions have no independent authority to ignore or modify state laws and local board policies. The ideas that define critical race theory are not new. To varying degrees, states and local school districts have been addressing elements of the “theory” for nearly 50 years. There are important arguments made by advocates and opponents of the theory that ultimately must be processed through rigorous public debate and policy-making processes. While I believe that to the extent possible, public schools ought to be included in the open marketplace of ideas, it is particularly important that students are not sheltered from controversial ideas that are based upon thoughtful arguments and alternative interpretations. After all, a central mission of public education is to help students become independent, open-minded, ethical and creative thinkers.
Stephen Davis is a career educator who writes a column that publishes every other Wednesday in the Daily Republic. Reach him by email at stephendavis71 @gmail.com.
bRigHT spot
CorreCtions & ClarifiCations
The name of the program featured in a story in Monday’s Daily Republic should have been listed as “Rotary Feeds Families.” It’s sponsored by the Fairfield Suisun Noon Rotary Club. It is not part of Food is Free Solano, and donates to the food bank. For more information, contact KimberSmith2010@gmail.com. n n n
It is the Daily Republic’s policy to correct errors in reporting. If you notice an error, please call the Daily Republic at 425-4646 during business hours weekdays and ask to speak to the editor in charge of the section where the error occurred.
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