What if We Had no Army?

Did you know that there are 23 countries around the world that have no standing military force?  That is to say, that they do not have any form of a military that is being trained and maintained on a daily basis?  I did not until I stumbled upon an article about Andorra today.

Andorra is a small European country nestled between France and Spain.  Though it may be small, it's still a European country.  A continent where both of our World Wars were waged.  You'd think having an army would be a good idea in such a place... but they haven't had a standing army in over 700 years!

South and Central American countries like Panama and Costa Rica dissolved their armies in the 20th century, and as a result Costa Rica is the location of the United Nations University for Peace.

Iceland, another country without a military, also uses their lack of armed forces for a greater good having created a Crisis Response Unit which aids in the efforts to maintain peace in areas of conflict like the Middle East.

Furthermore, there are financial advantages to not having a military.  The US spends 130% more every year on its defense and security budget than Costa Rica does.

Other countries that do not maintain an army include: "Lichtenstein, the Vatican, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati.... Haiti, Monaco, Mauritius, [and] Vanuatu."  That said, all of these nations are small and/or islands.  In addition, many have signed defense treaties with neighboring super-powers in the event of an invasion.

Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to our armed forces and what they sacrifice for us every day.  But it got me thinking.... is it possible for the US to not have an army?  If we were defenseless it seems like it would go against humanity for another superpower to attack us. Or, take it step further, what if no one had an army?  If these small countries can do it, maybe we all could and that would be a huge step toward peace throughout the world.

Politics According to 4th Graders

In my 4th Grade classroom, my Social Studies unit is about Ancient Greece and Rome.  We learn about these Ancient civilizations and then analyze our modern life for aspects that are reminiscent of them.  So, naturally, the other day we learned about Athenian Democracy.

We talked about all the different types of government in Ancient Greece: Monarchy, Oligarchy, and Democracy.  Then the task was too identify the advantages and disadvantages to each different type of government.  The kids aptly pointed out that the main issues in the monarchies and oligarchies are the possibility for a tyrannical ruler and the uneven distribution of wealth.

Then we talked about Democracy.  The kids thought it was awesome how people had the power and got to vote (although there was a bit of grumbling about the fact that kids don't get to vote.)  And then when we got to disadvantages, the room was silent.  One timid girl raised her hand (my little feminist from a previous post) and said "It seems like it would be hard to please everyone."

And therein lies the problem with politics, my brilliant little gem.  Everybody will never be satisfied.

I might as well just hand the class over to her at this point and call it a day.

Some writing..

For those of you following my own writing "career" I have received a few recent nibbles on publishing my Middle Grade book that I finished writing.  While I follow up on those, inspired by recent events in my life I've started writing a nonfiction book based on my life.  It bounces back and forth in time before and after a defining moment in my life.  Here's a little snippet, would love to hear thoughts/suggestions:

After

            I was teaching my class about Greece today.  I had them do a lesson in which they were assigned a topic and given a website and then they had to write down the ten most important facts they learned about their topic.  As we began to share the information about Ancient Greece… my female-heavy class realized something entirely on their own (yes they are NINE years old): Greece was a male-driven society.

            The Ancient Greeks existed over 3,000 year ago.  In Greece, females weren’t allowed to go to school, females could not partake in theater or the arts and their parts were played by males, and girls in their early teens were married off to men in their late 30’s without their consent.  Even in Athens, the most progressive of Greek cities and the model for our own democracy here in the US, women did not have the right to vote.  One of my students raised her hand and informed the class that even in Shakespeare’s time women were still not allowed on stage.  In America, women didn’t receive the right to vote until 1920, well into our country’s heyday, and women are still paid less for doing the same jobs as men today.

            This got me thinking… for thousands of years men have had the upper hand in government, in business, and at home.  I have always been told that the reason men have left me heartbroken without an explanation on so many occasions was because they were “immature” or “naïve” or here’s my favorite excuse “that’s just how boys act.”  But women have been fed these excuses and lines for thousands of years.  When are the tables going to turn?  When are we going to be in power?  When are we going to stop letting men control our lives and take the driver’s seat in our own car (literally and metaphorically.)  It’s about damn time, ladies.

            

Ode to Harper Lee

If there is one thing I learned from reading Harper Lee's latest novel Go Set a Watchman and then rereading To Kill a Mockingbird it is that high schoolers are in no way equipped to grasp the literary genius that is Harper Lee.  She is humorous and heartwarming in her writing, while simultaneously making subtle yet gigantic statements about society and human nature.

I didn't get any of that when I read this book in high school.  I remember Boo Radley, because I was certain (and hopeful) that it would end up being a scary story.  But Boo serves an entirely different purpose in the plot beyond myth and mystique.  He is yet another example in Harper Lee's literature that all human beings no matter their race, color, appearance, or eccentricity are simply that: human beings deserving of respect.  Although she never says it outright in the book, it is woven into the fabric of the book like it was there before she even started writing it.

On that note, one of my best friends told me that she was too afraid to read Go Set a Watchman because To Kill a Mockingbird is her absolute favorite book of all time.  She had heard that Watchman makes you hate Atticus.  I will say that there is a moment in the book when my exact reaction was "Ummm... are you freaking kidding me??" and you will know exactly what part I'm referring to when you get there but you MUST KEEP READING!  And while doing so remember this epic quote from Atticus' closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird:

"Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal... We know that all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe- some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they're born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others, some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.

But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president.  And that institution, gentlemen, is the court."

I swear it gives me chills.  I reread it over and over and over and it still brought tears to my eyes every time.  I'm truly a lawyer's daughter I guess.  And that lawyer father stated it best when he told me that, more than being books about a trial, or race relations, or the South in the turn of the century, To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchmen are about one thing: a young girl (and later woman) growing up and figuring out who she is. 

If you have not yet read Go Set a Watchman you should put down whatever you are doing right now and go buy it.  And then reread To Kill a Mockingbird.  I haven't started another book yet because I can't bring myself too.  Like I've said before, it's one of those books that when you're done you just can't let go yet because you become so attached to the characters and the story that you aren't ready to meet a new set of them yet.  I may just have to reread it again..

Gratitude

"Joy is the simplest form of gratitude," ~ Kari Barth

I have a new theme in my classroom this year (as mandated by my school but I have since assumed the responsibility enthusiastically), and that is gratitude.  Gratitude is a small word with a pretty big umbrella for what it can be referring to.

During Grad school I read an article about Gratitude Journals.  A Gratitude Journal is a diary of sorts, in which you record one authentic thing that makes you happy every day.  The key word here is authentic.  Research has shown that people who practice genuine gratitude consistently saw benefits both in their health and their personal lives.  They had lower blood pressure, had more successful relationships, and experienced less negativity in their every day life.

So in 4th Grade we are keeping a class gratitude journal.  Each day one student is nominated to say one authentic thing that they are grateful for and we write it on the board.  We are compiling these to put together in a small book that will go home with each of the kiddos at the end of the year.

Along with our talk about gratitude today we discussed what happened on 9/11 and why people remember this day.  One of my students said, "On this day many years ago a bunch of tourists came over from the Middle East to attack America."  It was said with such earnest, let me just tell you how hard it was not to laugh that she mistook the word "tourists" for "terrorists."

They seem so harmless..

That said it made me realize how grateful I am to have these little humans in my life every day speaking with such wisdom, albeit sometimes mistaken. Especially as I go through a somewhat difficult time in my life, it's always nice to be reminded of the little things that we take for granted every day.

As the quote at the beginning of this post says, sometimes simply being happy and recognizing positivity in your life is showing gratitude.  I challenge you to start keeping a gratitude journal, and see if you notice any positive benefits in your own life.

Here's some more research on Gratitude Journals if you're interested:

1. Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude
2. In Praise of Gratitude

End of Summer

Nothing says summer's over like one of my students asking me a redundant question the first week of school.
"Ms. Baker, when it says 'show your work' do you need to show your work"
Annnnnnnddd we're back.
In lieu of that I realized I really let my writing slip in the summer months.  Instead I was consumed by horses, and making enough money to afford horses (it's funny how those two go hand in hand.)  Never fear, in spite of not writing, I still did a decent amount of reading.  There were far too many books to write individual posts about, but here are a few of the highlights:

The Good Girl

by Mary Kubica

This book was in my top two for this summer.  It is a page-turning thriller about Mia Dennett, the daughter of a high-power attorney who has been abducted.  The story is told from the perspective of multiple characters- Mia, the man who abducted her, the police officer trying to find them, and Mia's mother.  It brilliantly weaves in the personal lives of all of these characters, unrelated to the crisis at hand, and makes you feel sympathy for the most unlikely of the cast.

The book cryptically also starts every chapter with "before" or "after," and it isn't until the very end that you discover what event these are referring to. Having been compared frequently to Gone Girl (perhaps only because of the title) it is my opinion that this book trumps Gillian Flynn's counterpart by far.

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

This book did not come to me highly recommended.  It was with more of a "eh... you should probably read it."  I think it was seriously undersold.  The book's main character is a struggling alcoholic who is recovering from her failed marriage.  He husband left her for another woman, and she has to ride by their house every day on the the train.

Let me tell you one thing about this book, if you've ever felt bad about the state of your life for any reason, Hawkin's book will make you feel much better.  The main character, Rachel, is a hot mess.  It's almost painful at times to read how much she is falling apart.  One day on her train ride however, she witnesses something strange and finds herself swept up in a kidnapping that took place one house down from that of her ex-husband.  Rachel becomes entranced with solving the mystery, and convinced that her ex-husband is involved all the while battling her addiction to alcohol and the memory-loss it causes.  Also, a great read!

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

In the likeness of All the Light We Cannot See, The Nightingale is a period piece about the Holocaust and is set in France.  The book follows two sisters who are as different as they possibly could be, bouncing back and forth between Paris and a small country town.  One sister followed the cliche path in life- she married young, had a daughter, and finds herself husband-less in the war and struggling to put food on the table.  The other sister is rebellious and defiant and determined to fight for France.  Both sisters are trying to discover the part they are meant to play in the war.

The book was a little slow at times, and fellow readers have said to me "I honestly just skipped about 80 pages in the middle and didn't find that I had missed much."  I don't agree with this sentiment entirely, and I actually really enjoyed the book.  Although it definitely falls short to All the Light when it comes to World War II pieces from this year.

My favorite book of the summer is not on this post.  Stay tuned.... it deserved it's own post :)