This period of Spring is historically marked by an ever increasing number of graduations throughout the city, state and nation. To the once prevalent graduations only from elementary and high schools within public (and a few private) school systems prior to earning various degrees from institutions of higher learning, the practice has now escalated to add pre-school, junior high and any number of intermediate graduations through the years.
With these concurrent and consecutive graduations tens of thousands of children, youth, teens and young adults are annually released into the homes and streets of America, many of whom are fortunately being enrolled in numerous summer camps and other wholesome programs. Yet far too many will remain idle and for the most part unsupervised for extended periods of time. Rewarding, however is the increasing number of short and long term programs and activities offered throughout the summer by the city, athletic and youth organizations, various churches, ministries, fraternities, sororities and others. Lists of such programs are usually posted in daily and weekly newspapers and other periodicals.
In this nation elementary and secondary education are mandatory. Spiritual and higher education are not. We consequently inevitably inherit the societal results of increasingly sharper minds and duller morals, doomed for self-destruction if not more evenly balanced. As mankind matures and science and technology continue to develop at a maddening pace (literally), the dire necessity of comparable spiritual education becomes more apparent. How obvious is becoming the statement offered many years ago by Teddy Roosevelt, “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” The present state of our national and world society attests to this truth. It also verifies that, “Our refusal or inability to accept truth does not change truth–only our lives.”
The key to a more spiritualized society is the spiritual education of children–contingent largely upon the spiritual attitudes of their teachers, from the first teacher (the parent) through secondary education. Should the teachers show an attitude of love, concern and understanding toward all students (with the most difficult needing it most), the students will become very special to them and not just someone they are required to teach.
Among the memorizations for students and facilitators alike in the Baha’i early education process we find, “Regard mankind as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education alone can cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit there from.” Through proper spiritual education of tutors as well comes more awareness of different capacities and with it, better ability to encourage development of each to fullest potential.
Whether in specific classroom settings or within regular daily routines, we each and all are teachers of a child or other individuals exposed to some regular contact with us. The fact that we may be totally oblivious to our influence upon others does not mean we have none.
Therefore, during this season of graduation while celebrating how much more we know, may we become more mindful of how much we show to those we wish to impress. May we continue to seek more knowledge in ever widening arenas of the arts and sciences and especially in moral standards where demonstration is most needed. May we be more cognizant of the long term effects of short term indiscretions and become models instead of critics, beacons instead of judges that we may leave clearer footprints in the sands of time that others can more admirably follow.
If in fact, “This is the Day that God hath ordained to be a blessing unto the righteous, a retribution for the wicked, a bounty for the faithful and a fury of His wrath for the faithless and the forward,” as proclaimed in the Baha’i Scriptures, it would appear that moral and spiritual graduation time is indeed fast approaching.
