No parent or teacher wants to admit
they have failed. Rather, we blame society—the government, the President, Congress—they
have failed to represent our needs, to spend our taxes wisely. There is always
someone else causing the problem, causing the failure, causing the misbehavior,
the violence and abnormality in the classrooms. Let’s get rid of guns so these
abnormal humans can’t shoot our loved ones, some suggest. Others realize that
the problem is us and give up.
Cultural changes are happening but not
everyone is on the band wagon. Many have missed the train. We are not a small
town, one state, or one nation society anymore. We have gone global. Technology
and media have brought the world to our living room, the universe to our back
porch. It has happened so quickly—can we not expect some craziness?
How can we catch up with human
reality? How can we be present to a life that is the same for all people yet
experienced and acted out differently by citizens in countries around the
world? We are not happy with others who don’t behave like us. We think if we only had
control, we would find peace.
Maria Montessori knew that worldwide
peace is possible because she understood the work of the child who knows peace
when they are born. Their work in becoming an adult is to manifest this peace.
It is their gift to the world, to the universe.