Wow! Has it been a week already? Do you find that it seems like time is rushing by while we wonder if we should wear a mask to go to buy groceries? What have we learned in these crazy times? I mean, we knew we weren’t supposed to get close to anyone with a cold or flu. We all knew we could catch a cold if we kissed a person with sniffles or held a baby with a runny nose. There are so many things we didn’t know, like going to school was dangerous or that it was OK to just watch the lessons on the computer monitor.
Let me tell you something that has happened that we may never recover from. When I was a young boy, I often heard it said that California had the finest public schools in the entire country. People with children would leave from wherever they lived at the time and move to California just so their children could get a terrific education for free. We, as a nation, have handicapped an entire generation of fine young men and women who could not go to school because of the pandemic.
Perhaps we can get out of this mess soon, but the young folks who were in school or getting ready to enroll in a school, may never recover from what has deprived them from getting the information they need to be competitive in the cruel market that our world demands. When it was first required that children stay at home, I was truly happy that my kids had finished school, but then I don’t want to paint a dark picture for the future.
We, as a nation, have suffered interruptions in the educational process a few times in the past. Our nation has been busy fighting wars at least three times that curtailed the attendance of school due to family requirements. I have faith that we will recover from this interruption also. In Gonzales, there are young students that are doing more than just attending school. Our city government has stepped up with guidance from the city council and staff for the past seven years and have sought out interested young folks that want to do more. They have designed a student council elected by the students, beginning in middle school and continuing through high school.
Those council members then appoint two students to attend city council meetings as elected commissioners to represent their school and to learn how our government works. Aiden Cervantes and Magaly Santos are filling those seats as of now and it is working so well that other cities are very interested in how this works. Soledad has copied the example, being the first to see how well this model helps the students. Most of the Gonzales members of the youth council have moved on to a school of higher learning.
It seems as if more really fine folks died in a short time this past year. I have seen young men, almost children really, die for all the wrong reasons. I have held a couple of these fine young men as life left them, then got up and walked behind a tree so no one would see my sadness. Then I have had to get in the face of their platoon leader and chew him out if he showed any signs of his frustration over losing a man. Hopefully that is all in my past and most folks have forgotten that an entire generation was thrown into the battle before they even knew why they were there.
We all have read about the giants that helped make this valley, “The Salad Bowl of the United States.” These were men and women that got up every day and wondered if they could make a million dollars or lose the same amount. I actually heard that said by one of those who had a lot to do with the fields and farms that make this place so. Here I thought that all these men and women were conservative folks that figured a day’s work was a blessing and they were happy just to have the work to do. It turns out that they were rolling the dice every day.
There is one other thing I would like to mention. There are many ways to be successful. You can work hard and study hard and do all the things you are taught, but the one thing you need to make sure that success is within your grasp is to treasure what you have, and by that I mean your family. I have been all over this world and seen sights that I would just as soon forget. I have met lots of folks that made me happy and quite a few that didn’t. I have strived to make lots of money and ended up broke instead. I have taken jobs I hated because I needed money to get somewhere or to eat.
I’m not bragging about these things nor am I any better than anyone else. There is one constant in my life that makes it worth living — family. Not just my family but all families. I saw a scene in a TV show where this woman had bought a new car by saving her money. Her response was like one my dad had told me the last leave I had before Vietnam. “If you really want something and put your mind to it, no one can stop you from your dreams.”
My family, like your family, is the glue of the world. I have said that you just need one person to believe in you for you to succeed. My family, like yours, is your own cheering section. Listen to them, cherish them and heed any sensible advice they give you because they will always be your family.
God Bless.
