Over the 4th of July, while folks at home were watching fireworks and sharing in barbeques, thirty four members of MCCEA were attending the NEA Representative Assembly in Chicago. As delegates from Morris County representing New Jersey on the national level, they helped to shape policy for NEA for the ensuing year. More than that, they learned about the difficulties our State Associations are facing across this country, even as we struggle amidst the horrific challenges that the New Jersey Legislature has placed upon its state employees. As educators, we will begin to see the true results of the debacle in Trenton as soon as we receive our first paychecks.
Each morning for those five days in July at the RA in Chicago, our New Jersey delegation begins with an Invocation, a few words of inspiration to set the tone for the day’s work ahead. I asked Michelle, a member from Camden, if she would be willing to allow me to share the inspirational message that she used on the last morning in front of our 700 member NJ delegation. I think you will enjoy this parable and see its relevance:
“The story is told of a farmer who owned an old plow horse. The horse fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the old horse praying, or whatever it is that horses do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the horse, but he decided that neither the horse nor the well were worth the effort to save them. Instead, he called his neighbors together and asked them to help him haul dirt to bury the old horse in the well and put him out of his misery.
Initially, the old horse was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling, and as the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a load of dirt hit his back, he would Shake it off and Step Up!
This he did, blow after blow, Shake it off and Step up! Shake it off and Step Up! He repeated the message to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation seemed, the old horse fought panic and kept on shaking it off and stepping up. It wasn’t long before the old horse, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him – all because of the matter in which he handled his adversity.
As members of MCCEA, NJEA and NEA we can compare the current attacks on our profession to the plow horse in the well and the depth of the well. We can relate these to the pension and health benefits issues, attacks on collective bargaining, and the so-called educational reforms such as tenure, seniority and evaluation, that literally mean to destroy public education for private enterprise. All of the dirt is the media frenzy that seeks to vilify us state by state.
All of us here at MCCEA are determined to do whatever is necessary to Step Up and Stand Tall against the likes of Chris Christie, Steve Sweeney, George Norcross, Joe DeVincenzo and all of the other dirty players in this effort to hurt children, educators and other state employees in New Jersey. These are people who think they can bury us in the well to silence our voices. They believe that we are like the people in Suzanne Collins book, The Hunger Games, who sit and watch while their children die as long as it is not their child who is killed; who watch the atrocities happen rather than joining together to stand up to the leaders.
This year our focus at MCCEA, along with providing topnotch professional development opportunities, our Mall Project, and other great activities that our members have come to expect, will be to Step Up. Our backs are strong and our minds are sharp. We will face our problems with new opportunities for organizing our members. We refuse to give in to the panic, complaining and bitterness that would destroy us, and we need everyone to get involved. As we talk with your local leaders, they will be talking to you about what you can do to Step Up. United we stand or divided we beg! Now, as we begin this brand new school year with new opportunities to work together, it is time for everyone to Shake it off and STEP UP! Will you be with us?