In a better world

In a country known for shooting its children I wonder if maybe our Puritan forefathers got it all wrong from the get go.

Our prisons are full of people contributing nothing to the world right now. Our politics are vindictive and headed towards third world harsh. Our schools are becoming shams that produce test takers. And the list goes on.

There are other places who do some of these things much better than we do and although this world does seem to cater to the rich, they can be held accountable if we choose to make it so.

Instead of creating commercial warehouses for punishing people what if we created rehabilitative places where people are retrained and eased back into society as useful citizens. It can be done. It is already being done in some other countries.

Instead of schools based on tests and numbers and regimentation, what if we taught children in different ways? This is already being done, right here in this country and it works! It is possible to teach almost everything in a way that creates true learning: how to think, how to apply what you learn, how to make sense of the lists of facts that many students are simply asked to remember and regurgitate right now, so their schools can garner financial aid.

What if we looked at the people in our neighborhood as people filled with possibilities instead of creatures with religious, ethnic, and financial faults?

Compassion, respect, understanding, creativity, are all alternatives for the way we do things now. This country really could be a better place.