Difficult Subjects

When I first walked into our last class of social studies methods, we were given a list of quotes that had been published since the recent death of Osama Bin Laden. I am someone who stays away from politics as much as possible because, to be honest, it scares me. My first reaction was something that our teacher would be disappointed in. I said "I wouldn't say anything". This is not because I do not care, it is because I do not know what to say. One of my greatest weaknesses is being constantly concerned with offending others. I do not have siblings overseas or a parent that died on September 11th, so maybe I just don't understand. When I flipped the T.V. on last Sunday night, I personally was appalled. Other than my fiancé, I probably would not have expressed this opinion. I understand people being relieved, but people gathering in large mobs celebrating a death just doesn't sit right with me.

So, when we started to talk about this in class I really wanted to find a solution to my personal dilemma. While there is no easy way to discuss something that people are so passionate about, it really is something that needs to be done. Just because of my nature, I would leave all of my biases at the door the best I can. Our students do not remember the feeling on September 11th, so I would approach this subject in as much of a factual way as possible, so that students could form their own opinions. While these subjects are going to be hard for me to talk about, I do not want my students to be left in the dark like I felt I was at their age. So it is my responsibility to provide this for them in as meaningful of a way as possible.