What could two seagulls and a crab possibly have to do with education? Well, they will help me share my big picture, which will then allow me to transition into the specific details I've held myself back from writing about for so long. I'm still hesitant, but this post is like a big deep breath of sea air for me. Here goes...
Once upon a recent time, a seagull stood at the foot of the shoreline, with a crab in its beak. Let's say it's a female seagull. As you can see, she looked quite content, having found a rather large meal for the day:
Seagull eating crab in Montauk ©Dawn R. Morris
Poor crab, huh? Isn't it amazing how animals just know what they have to do to survive?
Well, you're right to be thinking that that seagull was not alone on that beach. She was concentrating so hard on the crab, though, that she didn't realize that a "friend" was about to swoop in and snatch the meal away!
Seagull eats another seagull's crab. ©Dawn R. Morris
Call it survival of the fittest, or whatever you want, but those are sure some powerful beaks.
Note to self:
Crab: prey, victim
Seagull #1: predator, victim
Seagull #2: predator, bully
Do you see yourself in any of the three sea creatures? Most of us probably have been in each of their places at different times in our lives, at least in some small way.
Like animals, we all have to eat. Fortunately, the majority of us do not have to victimize others in order to do so. But couldn't that crab just as easily have been a toy, an expensive piece of technology, an idea, or even a simple point of view? Since when did these things become objects to be stolen, thrown around, and even destroyed?
Sometimes, toddlers grab things from others not because they actually want the objects, but because what someone else has always seems to be more appealing. They're developing a hunger for control and power, which seems pretty harmless at first. A good parent or teacher would nip that behavior in the bud pretty quickly. Or hopefully, the toddler would grow out of the phase...
Unfortunately, not every child has a good parent or teacher, or someone who can help him see that there are alternate choices. But lately, there seem to be so many adults, and powerfully educated ones at that, who just can't even imagine sharing the crab, or even digesting a new idea, at all. It's like they have blinders on. They see the crab, and nothing else matters....
Something has gone horribly wrong, and even The Little Mermaid can't fix it.
@SusanMazza got me thinking about all this when she wrote about "The Lost Art of Passionate Discourse." Like me, she noticed that people just can't seem to disagree respectfully anymore. They need to take sides, and are quick to close the door on opposing points of view. What good can possibly come out of that scenario?
How can we change this story in our homes, classrooms, and offices?
For me, it all comes down to how we educate our children and lead our employees. As parents, teachers, and leaders, we set the tone for how our "family members" will react and respond to criticism and controversy. We can choose to center our discussions around the one right answer, or the many questions which could lead to multiple answers and points of view. After all, if we're not open to respectful debate and divergent thinking ourselves, how can we ever expect them to be?
Here are some more questions to ponder:
Which sea creature do you identify the most with? Which one do you see in your child? If you had to change the ending, or add another creature, how would you do so?
Surely these sea creatures aren't alone on the beach.
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