Happy Friday, All!
Whether you “believe in a power greater than ourselves” or not, it might be a good idea to have a “chat” with “it” … T.G.I.F., then if you understand me!
I don’t know if you’ve ever read “The Bible” or if you really believe that there is “a power greater than ourselves”. I hope so because things are looking “rough”, y’all. I actually pushed back tears as I watched news reports of the area between Turkey and Syria called “Idlib” and the death, dearth and human despair being experienced there. I have come to accept the FACT that humanity owes a huge “debt” to the planet Earth. It – the Earth – has sustained humans over only God knows how many years; and to “repay” the Earth’s kindness, human civilizations have stripped this Earth of as much of its life-sustaining power to nearly a “barren wasteland” in some places on the planet.
Nowadays, I still facilitate at my home office two sessions of English with a “local” young lady whose grandmother is my landlord. Britney is an excellent student! I have her choose an article from PAW (Princeton Alumni Weekly) which she selects based on her interests. One article she selected focused on a player-coach duo who worked and “played “together in the MLS in US futbol (soccer)! The articles that we are examining involve her reading, translating, identifying vocabulary and confirming reading comprehension with questions in both English and Spanish at the end of each section! Meanwhile, back at the “El Cole” where I focus on the American/World history part of the GED (general equivalency diploma) for 4 hours every Tuesday, the students are preparing their “own” multiple-choice GED questions as homework for next week … a new learning strategy that I am employing!
Tonight, I have been invited to dinner with a 17-year-old student, and her father, who passed the GED and all the other requirements for her to go to Belgium where her mother is from and enroll in a university there! Thanks to my Creator, there are many things in my life today that reinforce my goal of living in peace, harmony and love with my fellow humans … and the energy of our universe …
Have a wonder-filled weekend … and work for PEACE …
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 