Spring Break
Friends and keeping your humanity in check
Anne Marie Merline
Issue date: 1/26/09 Section: Opinion
Is your humanity in check?
This month I embark on teaching a course based in the concept of human rights for the third time. This course follows American history and its actions regarding human rights in comparison to those the United Nations' "Declaration of Human Rights" dictate.
To look at international issues, our class also compares and contrasts human rights in other countries, mostly in contemporary society.
Human rights encompass everything from not killing another human being to treating individuals with dignity and respect.
Most of us will live our lives without the thought of taking another human life, but all of us are challenged to treat others with dignity and respect almost every second of every day. In this world where human power struggles are a part of "who we are and what we do," we are rarely challenged to think deeply about how we respect others in our daily lives.
In my mind, there is nothing like attending a funeral to make me reflect on how I treat others who are still walking the earth with me.
I attended a funeral over winter break, and it really puts life into perspective. This funeral was for the mother of a student of mine, and, of course, it really made me think about how I have cherished this one student for almost four years.
As I was driving to and from the service, I thought and thought about how I relate to my students and how we all cherish each other in the classroom as humans, not as other people who are in a different proximity to the whiteboard.
The instructional staff is just as relieved to have the semester end as are the students. As the semesters have ended, I have seen hundreds -- now approaching thousands -- of students walk out the doors of my classroom.
Of these thousands, I have a couple dozen students whom I consider to be friends of mine -- some of them are even my Facebook friends.
David, the student whose mother's funeral I attended over the break, is one of the four students I befriended almost four years ago, whom I have always called "my boys."
This month I embark on teaching a course based in the concept of human rights for the third time. This course follows American history and its actions regarding human rights in comparison to those the United Nations' "Declaration of Human Rights" dictate.
To look at international issues, our class also compares and contrasts human rights in other countries, mostly in contemporary society.
Human rights encompass everything from not killing another human being to treating individuals with dignity and respect.
Most of us will live our lives without the thought of taking another human life, but all of us are challenged to treat others with dignity and respect almost every second of every day. In this world where human power struggles are a part of "who we are and what we do," we are rarely challenged to think deeply about how we respect others in our daily lives.
In my mind, there is nothing like attending a funeral to make me reflect on how I treat others who are still walking the earth with me.
I attended a funeral over winter break, and it really puts life into perspective. This funeral was for the mother of a student of mine, and, of course, it really made me think about how I have cherished this one student for almost four years.
As I was driving to and from the service, I thought and thought about how I relate to my students and how we all cherish each other in the classroom as humans, not as other people who are in a different proximity to the whiteboard.
The instructional staff is just as relieved to have the semester end as are the students. As the semesters have ended, I have seen hundreds -- now approaching thousands -- of students walk out the doors of my classroom.
Of these thousands, I have a couple dozen students whom I consider to be friends of mine -- some of them are even my Facebook friends.
David, the student whose mother's funeral I attended over the break, is one of the four students I befriended almost four years ago, whom I have always called "my boys."
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Registered Independent
posted 1/26/09 @ 11:32 AM MST
Interesting that this special "karma" you feel for a few select students is primarily towards the young men. Or rather entirely, since four out of four of your "special student friends" are male. (Continued…)
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