Dear Editor,
I believe in progress: true progress that goes hand in hand with justice and equity. Not one that makes its mark by walking on the backs of the downtrodden!
It has been said that “…pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall?”
The pride that says ‘ it’s my way or highway…’ is a dangerous attitude!
Where am I going with this?
Weeks have gone by, and I have heard no-one in this Administration raise a voice or lift a finger in support of the striking teachers?
How can we say “we care” when we refuse to sit down and have ‘collective bargaining’ as provided by the Constitu-tion?
How can we say “we care” when parents are concerned about the welfare of their children?
How can we say “we care” when we ignore the cries of qualified persons who struggle to pay their bills?
How can we say “we care” when some receive such huge allowances that they do not need to touch their salaries, while others take from their meagre earnings to help children who are too poor to take lunch to school?
How can we say “we care” when we can dare to articulate thoughts of taking money from teachers’ salaries?
Let us hearken to the words of wise King Solomon of old as he waxes poetical, personifies Wisdom, and gives her a voice:
“Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses. At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil.”
He that has ears to hear, let him hear!
Claudia Heywood
(Former teacher)