The People Who Teach You to Think

Sometimes the convergence of events can help one gain clarity that they had long lacked. Sometimes several things happen at once, and cause you to remember something core to who you are, or what you believe. It's random, but it opens your eyes to things that are happening in front of you.

Donald Trump is putting together a cabinet that a former U.S. Senator called "the worst ever" to me last week, even before some of the worst picks were announced. Trump's cabinet is a combination of generals, right-wing purists, and billionaires that resembles what you'd expect to see in a third world oligarchy. Billionaires who oppose public education, and support fully automated (robotic) work-forces, working along side military strongmen who made their reputations on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Generally these forces don't assume civilian control of the government, but in the time of Trump they do. This is particularly scary when you cast this against hyper-nationalistic rhetoric, talk of "strong borders," and the President-elect launching personal attacks against comedians, journalists, union leaders, and other super-power nations in the world, all from the comfort of his Twitter account, while his supporters follow up his taunts with threats against pizza shops, union leaders, and Star Wars movies. To be clear, this is not normal, and this is not the America of my youth.

Meanwhile back home in Bethlehem, PA, my college adviser was teaching his final class. I was interested in, and read a lot about politics before I ever met Gary. I can't say that I thought super-critically about these issues and our world before that though. It was under his watch that I learned about things I would never have otherwise even thought about. I read books like "Blowback," that completely altered my view of American foreign policy and thinking on things like the Iraq War, or U.S. policy towards Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. Exploitation of foreign workers and identity politics were things I never had given a single thought about, much less understood, prior to my time with Gary at Moravian. The kinds of "banana republics" and dictatorships that I now draw parallels to in the time of Trump are places I was introduced to in Gary's classes. The lessons of yester-year are suddenly so important, again. Just as important though was the over-arching themes of those classes- to critically examine why things were happening, and not just accept a superficial answer as satisfying. In the aftermath of the 2016 election, I find myself trying to apply that standard to myself, and to the political party that I find myself as a member of now. We're going to need a lot more of that critical thought as we move into whatever the hell tomorrow is going to look like.

The convergence of a frightening future and a nostalgic moment about my time learning under a man who taught me to think comes at a time when I am coming back to campus anyway tomorrow for an alumni board meeting. Not a day goes by where I don't wish I could sit in those classes today, as a more mature person. Many of the lessons I should have been learning at that time are lessons that I blocked out because of a youthful and inward-looking world view. I find myself trying to re-capture that moment in my mind now, and to re-teach myself. I also find myself quite grateful for being given the critical thinking skills that I was given during my time on that campus.