While observing my nieces study for their University and Leaving Cert exams respectively, I wonder why for so many learning begins and ends with school and college.
What if every day was a school day? What if we were constantly learning, expanding our minds, views and opinions by reading, talking, listening, googling, maybe – just maybe – we’d have less problems in the world. If we really think about it, and admit it, deep down we all know that education is the key to all of our futures.
Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai by her actions and reactions proved powerfully that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.
If we bettered ourselves daily, educated ourselves, expanded our often closed minds, we would undoubtedly better understand our neighbour’s issues and points of view, thus appearing less bigoted, intolerant, closed, parochial, paranoid, racist, sexist, homophobic etc.
Why don’t students learn about all religions in R.E.classes by receiving an introduction to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Humanism, to name but a small selection? Perhaps then, further down the line, we might have less killings in the name of all of our slightly differing deities? ISIS might just think twice before throwing gays off the top of tower-blocks and stoning them when they hit the ground to make sure they’re dead. Perhaps, in time, there would be no ISIS. Or terrorism.
If we were constantly learning, understanding our neighbours, appreciating our differences, perhaps the Breda O’Briens of this world might actually open their minds, and practice a more “Christian” version of Christianity, and appreciate that equality in our country is a good thing on so many levels, a positive leap forward, and actually a very “Christian” concept. Ireland has long been under the thumb of the Church, and yet is still being guided by the Church which way to vote on this referendum. This is a human issue. It is about equality for everyone. Love is love! Let’s not be afraid of Equality. Let’s embrace it, and end oppression in our country for starters. Love your neighbour as yourself.
If we removed the blinkers and opened our minds perhaps we’d clearly see the importance of Prince Charles’ visit to Mullaghmore as a positive and healthy gesture, in the same way his mother’s visit to Ireland healed countless wounds of the past. I am a self-proclaimed ‘Nationalist’, but we all know terrorism and war achieves little or nothing. Can’t we, for once and for all, let bygones be bygones? This is a man visiting the scene of his late Grand-Uncle’s murder, in one of Sligo’s most extraordinary beauty-spots. Surely respect is called for on every level.
By educating ourselves, we would learn about, appreciate and perhaps even embrace each other’s cultures and differences, thus learning true respect.
Perhaps we might even accept that maybe, just maybe, our own religion/faith is not necessarily the final and only answer. We might then live this life to the full, and waste less energy focussing on and preparing for the next life, which whether we like it or not has not been fully proven as fact.
The Humanist Douglas Adams said “Isn’t it enough to focus on the beauty of the garden without wondering whether or not there are fairies at the bottom of it?”
If we learned a little and bettered ourselves daily, not as a chore but rather as a pleasure, we might learn the value of helping those less fortunate than ourselves, thus appreciating that it’s only by accident of birth that we were born into a more privileged environment and society than many of our fellow global co-habitants. We might learn to appreciate the true definition of ‘community’, and not just focus on those in our immediate vicinity, but rightly view the world as our community. It can only be a good thing to open our minds and learn a little every day, by reading, talking, listening, googling…
We might learn to really respect, trust, and spend less of our lives watching our backs.
I am fully aware that this is a rather simplistic, Utopian, John Lennon-esque outlook, but we surely all agree that education is the key to our futures, and shouldn’t just stop when we leave the school and college gates in our wake.
Let’s start by treating every day as a school day, by welcoming each other’s differences, and embracing equality with a resounding “YES”!
