Dr. Michelle Howard-Vital

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The Holiday Season–A Time to Give Thanks for our “Presents”

UnknownNow, that we have survived election season and have gone directly into the Holiday Season, we can tip this time of mass marketing of purchasing to our advantage by employing the celebratory mood to give thanks to those who have helped us on our journeys–especially our parents, grandparents, and other significant family members.

If we can move pass the stresses of gifts, parties, and awkward moments with relatives, we can seize the Holiday Season as an opportunity to slow down a bit and to extend our circle of interactions to thank those who have helped us develop our values, moral compasses, and foundations that guide and gird us through our education, careers, raising families, and the time when we ourselves strive to pass on legacies.

I join many Baby-Boomers in attending one too many funerals of parents of my friends.  As I listen to those who recount the lives of these parents, it became clearer than ever that we owe so much to the generation born in the 1920s and 1930s. They were those in our families who weathered wars, economic depressions, and the unrelenting Industrial Age.  It is interesting to note that this generation is often called the “Silent Generation,” or the “Traditional Generation,” yet, their legacies speak for themselves.

Our parents and their parents worked long, hard hours, often without complaining, paid cash before credit cards became the norm, sacrificed dreams and luxuries for their children, and believed that the future would be better –if they just did their parts in small ways.

Although they were born before it was possible to take “selfies” with cell phones,  the unrelenting hopes and legacies of love that our parents and grandparents left us can be recounted in detail by some of us.  There were parents who worked two jobs to help make possible college educations for their “Baby Boomer” children.  There were parents and grandparents who were wounded in wars while fighting courageously for our rights to pursue our American Dreams.  There were uncles and aunts who passed from our lives unheralded, but who also labored for us, and guided us, in quiet, but dignified ways.

This Holiday Season, as we carve turkeys and pass around the sides, I hope we take a moment to give thanks to those who left us these foundational legacies of hope and love.  As we pay our respects to their legacies, we cannot help but thank them for believing in the possibilities of  our country, for returning to their farms to feed a nation, for bearing the indignities that only humans can inflict upon each other because of racial and class differences.  Most of all, I hope we thank them for stubbornly clinging to the belief that their sacrifices would lead to a better America for their children.

As we know,  the Silent Generation had their personal  and cultural struggles, and they gave birth to the more vocal and dramatic Baby Boomers who helped America evolve into a more diverse and future-oriented nation.  As a member of the Baby Boomers generation,  I hope that Generation X and the Millennial Generation will advance positive social action, embrace the sacrifices they will face to advance and sustain the ideals of our nation, and pay it forward to the next generations of leaders.

When you think of the “presents” we have already been given, the Holiday Season can truly be a time of celebrations!

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Election Day–Voting is Fundamental

american-flag-sunset-1Some of our fellow citizens have already taken the opportunity to vote in early elections.   The fact that they have voted is good for America.

November 4, when most people, who will vote, will go to the polls is a very important day for the citizens of this country. I would not presume to give advice on any specific candidate or any specific race.   However, I do note that it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern political platforms amidst the negative attack advertisements on television and at political fund raising events. It is more important than ever before to get beyond the 30 second sound bites, that often cater to fears and stereotypes and to “do our homework” about each candidate before completing your responsibility to ensure our American legacy.

As I hear people talk about the candidates’ promises and the records of incumbent legislators, it seems that many citizens correlate being political with being dishonest and serving the interest of specific constituencies who help/helped them get elected. Thus, they do not pay much attention to the actual platforms, records, agendas, and promises of the candidates. This is not good for us as citizens.

As citizens, it is my opinion, that it is our responsibility to vote for candidates who will exemplify our core values and improve the quality of life for us and for our children. Thus, it is important to review the work of candidates on a daily basis, so that we can make the most intelligent decisions possible when we go to the polls.   It is very important, also in my opinion, for us to push pass the emotionally charged words and half-truths, so that we will not be surprised about results we will experience in employment trends, educational funding, environmental sustainability, or social security changes (and so forth) when the candidates actually take office and move forth on their agendas.

As stated by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, it is our responsibility each day to ensure “that this nation… shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Voting is fundamental in maintaining America.

 

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Learning for a Lifetime of Choices

Refined from President’s blog

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A little while ago, I had lunch with a childhood friend, Marlene.  We have been friends since we were both thirteen years old, and that has been decades ago. Our lifelong friendship began on the Southside of Chicago where we discovered personal commonalities, as we explored the public libraries together and devised many less intellectual adventurers.  On a Wednesday in November 2013,  we met in Union Station in Washington, D. C., and it was indeed a reunion of epic proportions.  Between the two of us there were four children–all with college degrees.    It was our prayer, and our spouses’ too, that we had prepared these talented young adults to lead responsible, worthwhile, and altruistic lives.

When we looked into each other’s faces, we bore witness to a half century of American societal forces that had shaped the lives, and choices of two women who grew-up with limited resources, but who dreamed of nearly endless possibilities.  My friend earned a MBA from a big ten university, and I earned a PhD from a top-ranked national university.  Besides the fact that both of us have done well, by American standards, we also gained so much more from our college experiences than the academic content and subsequent jobs.  The value of our higher education included exposure to options, consideration of diverse perspectives,  and development of skill sets beyond our imaginations.

As we seek to grapple with the finances surrounding colleges and universities, the debate about the value of colleges and universities has reached a louder pitch with proponents on all sides.   As states struggle with competing priorities for revenue, and the economic recovery continues, there is more concern about the value of a college education in relationship to the cost of attendance.  While nearly half of my college experience included the private and well-regarded University of Chicago, it still does seem possible for students to choose from a range of institutions which correlate, as closely as possible, with their family and financial support systems.

Now I know that from a lifelong learner and educator, much of what I think about the value of a college education could be discounted–since I liked learning so much–it did not occur to me to leave the college/university  structured community of learners.  However,  as my friend and I shared stories in Union Station, it also occurred to me how fortunate we have both been to have spent so much time learning from the perspectives of others,  and how our expanded worldviews had influenced the activities we engaged in with our children and probably the choices and lives of our children and their future grandchildren. It seems that an expanded worldview is in itself a legacy–possibly just as precious as an inheritance of a land estate.

Engaging in various structured classroom or hybrid learning experiences also seems to help build a sense of confidence in the learners.  Without a doubt this confidence can be gained from other experiences rather than a college experience, but the efficiency and sequencing of these experiences in a college environment might take years to acquire without the talented and caring professors serving as learning guides.

Thus, one value of colleges and universities, is that we offer options to assist learners enjoy a lifetime of choices and to leave a legacy of options.