Observations From the Spectrum

For ten years I was a middle school teacher, and what I found was that some of my best teachers were my students. This can be applied to our Democracy too. Leaders need to learn from those they lead not live in an ivory tower.

School is a positive metaphor to use to look at society.  Most, if not all, have been in a classroom and have experienced what it means to be a student.  And many people, including leaders and parents, understand what it means to be in the teaching role.

But along the way of time in modern day something has been forgotten or missed.  Too many people blame the hungry child for his hunger.  The reason being that those in teaching roles predominantly succeeded as students so they do not, and have never had reason to question the system and examine it for flaws.  For them, the system worked brilliantly and as it should; they succeeded.

More often than not, the teacher in the room was a student who liked school.  They succeeded in a variety of ways: socially, athletically, artistically and academically.  School was a place that laid the foundation for their dreams to come true.  So they think because their dreams came true, the system is working.

I hated school, and it is why I am a strong teacher.  I never blame the kid for the problems of the system or leadership.  The problem lies in the hands of the adults in the room, not in a childs.  A hungry kid is not to blame for his or her hunger.  That is a problem of the leadership and the system that allows them to be hungry.

So for those whom the system supports, they blame others for their failures without ever inditing the system. I am here to tell you that the system is failing millions of people.

No other job or career path allows employees to forgo work and output because the employees don’t get along.  That is not the real world.  All jobs are about work, and work is output and outcomes.

But today, our leaders are not adults.  They are juvenile delinquents with money who bought the system.  There is no accountability for them.  We perceive them as successes within a system that is failed, which means in truth, they are failures at their jobs.

I worked with a black man from Brownsville in NY. He was a gangster and an ex-con and he hated me. He walked up to me on one occasion and said as much.  I didn’t laugh it off.  I put my head down and worked harder.  

At the end of a job together he walked up to me and said, “You do good work, but I don’t like you.  Don’t ever come out the bar with us, I am not sure what I would do.”

This was the best compliment he could have ever given me.  Through his disdain towards me, he was able to see that his co-worker was doing a good job.  That is a lesson that needs to be learned.

Our leaders blame everyone else for why the job is not getting done well. I am over it.  It is time that we call them out for being weak and failed leaders of a failed system.  That they can’t put aside their differences at their jobs for desired outcomes like policy demonstrate that they are unfit for their positions. 

The problem is not Biden or Trump.  The problem is that our leaders are shitty at their jobs.  They are serving us burnt toast, coffee grinds, and spoiled food.  We do not build America on bipartisan politics.  We built it on the backs of workers who get the job done.  Maybe it’s time to expect the same from those in Washington DC.

• All works at Observations from the Spectrum written by Dylan Netter
• Observationsfromthespectrum.org
• OFTS.blog 
• On? a third point of view – book of Essays
• Marinehippie.com podcast w/ Docstodden.com – dialogue exploring politics and musings of life 
• Horizoncoaching.org – English Tutor and Guide
• beehiveplus1.org