Can't Find the Better Man

This is the state of the world right now. Bombs are going off in the Middle East, and thankfully being put out in Times Square. Coincidentally, the father of one of my former students, Wayne Rhatigan, was one of the first on scene to make sure the Times Square bomb didn't detonate.

The courage in his actions is astounding. But it makes me think--what if he hadn't been there, and this bomb did detonate? People would be dead if it was not for Mr. Rhatigan.

I guess it's not really possible to know how many people we save daily. But think about the little things that we do that have a ripple effect in making somebody's life better. Mr. Rhatigan saw this effect directly by his actions, which he called, "All in a day's work." His actions directly affected others' and he literally saved lives that could have been lost had this bomb gone off.

I may be naive or too optimistic in thinking that in my occupation as teacher I take on a role of moral advisor in which I lay the groundwork for improving young men and women's lives for years to come. I start each year by telling my students that, like Pythagoras told his students (as recounted by Plato), in some way, I hope to--by their association with me--make each day better. That's a difficult undertaking, and it's hard to remain humble when viewing that as my goal for the day, but it also challenges me as a teacher. Is what I'm doing today for the betterment of my students? If the answer is yes, then I do believe I have succeeded.

But if I'm achieving personal and moral betterment in my classroom each day (as is my goal), how come this enrichment through association has not captured the whole world? Instead, there is vitriol riddled in every television show on TV--from the Nightly News to South Park. Bombs are still being dropped, if not on the people of New York City, who on this day in 2010 are considered the lucky ones, then on some unlucky, poor Middle Easterners who have gotten caught in a war with the most powerful country in the world.

When will it end? It is probably cliche to talk about world peace these days, but I don't understand why more people aren't talking about it. We need to rally around our everyday heroes like Wayne Rhatigan, who was just doing his job to serve and protect, but to also promote peace, to better humanity. We need to stick with associating with people who serve to make us better every day than we were on the day before.