Since March 16 is national Freedom of Information day, I thought it fitting to focus today on knowledge. After all, why is it that we demand a right to remain informed, why reporters consistently fight for the public’s right to remain informed on the current issues affecting our country? We don’t want to “find things out” like a flighty, gossipy child does just so we can go “would you look at that!”, and then promptly forget it. We demand to be kept informed because knowledge is power. If we choose to ignore or dismiss the available information, at least we’ve been presented with the option to do so, rather than to be kept in the dark as God-knows-what happens behind closed doors and behind our backs… We prefer to know the knife is on its way toward our back, don’t we? Gives you a fighting chance of dodging, fighting it off, trying to outrun it, or maybe say a quick prayer.

Before we can ever get to the point where we begin to make our decisions based on all the available data, before we evaluate the data we have at hand and judge it to be insufficient to make an educated move and so demand more information… Before we really understand that there even IS such a thing as “evaluation”, two things must happen: our thirst for knowledge must develop, and then it must be nurtured into blossoming. The thirst for knowledge, to learn, seems to be an innate mechanism. Our parents/guardians begin the nurturing process. And then?

You go to school. And teachers are handed the reigns. A great teacher, for some kids, can be the difference between a life of wasted potential and a failure to mentally thrive, and a life of great strides, exceeds expectations, and success. So today on Freedom of Information Day I want to thank teachers worldwide for inspiring and nurturing kids on their quest for knowledge so that, even as busy, stressed out adults they still recognize and will fight for their right to be kept informed, to not have to live blindly and be herded like cattle to slaughter.

This Spoken Word piece by Taylor Mali called ‘What Teachers Make” says it all. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Sunday Y’all!

Cheers