Letter to My Students – Second Letter in a Series
Hello:
First, as always and since July 3, 1989 – I love you. You mean a lot to me. One of the cool things about being a high school music teacher? More often than not … MUCH MORE OFTEN (sorry – NOT sorry – for the poor grammar; I am a music teacher, not an English teacher & writing is a hobby for me, like golf – both hobbies humble me 😊) … the students who are in my music classes choose to be there. So, any human being who chooses to be with me is a BLESSING / a gift / and I am honored! One more time… and not the last time … I love you.
I am not given the opportunity to share my thoughts about social issues, as other teachers are… Below is an example of a PowerPoint presentation for a MATH CLASS… A MATH CLASS… AN EIGHTH GRADE MATH CLASS…
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RTJKW_Qd1wS5ZMM0HcUtzsbuq4khYmFKARFYx7lGmmY/edit#slide=id.p
In the above math problem example, do you not think there is a student in that eighth grade math class who has a relative / a family friend who is a police officer? How did you (that eighth grade math teacher) impact that child’s life through your “innocent” math lesson? What a bout children who want to be police officers? So, you may have made the FEW… feel great about the “anti-police rhetoric.” However, there is that child who you have hurt. A profession you have STAINED / INSULTED! DAMN!
A book being used by some school districts close to where we live.
DISCLAIMER: do not … do not … send me a “textbook” about “Music and Social Justice.” NO INTEREST! Thanks for the offer.
If I were given the opportunity / support to discuss “social issues,” we would discuss the change in language. Today, the words we would use are EQUITY / EQUALITY / MERCY.
So, let’s start with definitions.
Equity: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/equity
1a: justice according to natural law or right specifically : freedom from bias or favoritism
b: something that is equitable
2a: the money value of a property or of an interest in a property in excess of claims or liens against it
b: the common stock of a corporation
c: a risk interest or ownership right in property
d: a right, claim, or interest existing or valid in equity
3a: a system of law originating in the English chancery and comprising a settled and formal body of legal and procedural rules and doctrines that supplement, aid, or override common and statute law and are designed to protect rights and enforce duties fixed by substantive law
b: trial or remedial justice under or by the rules and doctrines of equity
c: a body of legal doctrines and rules developed to enlarge, supplement, or override a narrow rigid system of law
Equity 1828 Webster Dictionary http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/equity
EQ’UITY, noun [Latin oequitas, from oequus, equal, even, level.]
- Justice; right. In practice, equityis the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him a right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason. The Lord shall judge the people with equity Psalms 98:9. With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity Isaiah 11:4.
- Justice; impartiality; a just regard to right or claim; as, we must, in equity allow this claim.
- In law, an equitable claim. ‘I consider the wife’s equity to be too well settled to be shaken.’
- In jurisprudence, the correction or qualification of law, when too severe or defective; or the extension of the words of the law to cases not expressed, yet coming within the reason of the law. Hence a court of equity or chancery, is a court which corrects the operation of the literal text of the law, and supplies its defects, by reasonable construction, and by rules of proceeding and deciding, which are not admissible in a court of law. equity then is the law of reason, exercised by the chancellor or judge, giving remedy in cases to which the courts of law are not competent.
- equity of redemption, in law, the advantage, allowed to a mortgager, of a reasonable time to redeem lands mortgaged, when the estate is of greater value than the sum for which it was mortgaged.
Let’s pause here… Prior to June 25, 1962 Engel v. Vitale (Supreme Court Decision), I believe I would not have received a letter of reprimand for using the Webster 1828 definition of “Equity.” However, considering I have received a letter of reprimand for saying, “Thank God I work at _________” and “God has me here (name of school) for a purpose,” I know I would have received a letter of reprimand and an unpaid-leave for a day or two. EVEN THOUGH, I would be citing a FACT.
The two definitions seem to represent two different countries. Correct? Do you see the manipulation of language to represent a point of view / culture? I would ask you to please consider doing a little research and see how our nation has responded to that June 25, 1962 Supreme Court Decision. I bet many of my students (past / present / future) who are reading the 1828 definition didn’t even know “God” or the Bible was cited in our dictionary.
Go to the one-hour-four-minute mark of this episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSS_V7DgAw
Please also, FACT, take note: To create his definition, Noah Webster used the OLD TESTAMENT. “God.” No Jesus Christ. But … “God.”
Now, onto “Equality”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/equality
1: the quality or state of being equal
Equality http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/equality
EQUAL’ITY, noun [Latin oequalitas.] An agreement of things in dimensions, quantity or quality; likeness; similarity in regard to two things compared. We speak of the equality of two or more tracts of land, of two bodies in length, breadth or thickness, of virtues or vices.
- The same degree of dignity or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being; the equality of nobles of the same rank; an equality of rights.
- Evenness; uniformity; sameness in state or continued course; as an equality of temper or constitution.
- Evenness; plainness; uniformity; as an equality of surface.
Remember, I am high school band director. I am doing what I can to understand the need for our public schools to support the need of “Equity” vs. NOT the need of “Equality.” I am doing what I can to understand the need for “Ethnic” vs. NOT the need for “Ethic.”
Now, I admit that previous statement has a “hint” of hyperbole. However, my goodness. We are certainly being fed that “Equity” / “Ethnicity” are the “tenets” for the renaissance of the United States of America.
With books such as “How To Be An Anti-Racist” and “White Fragility” / with business (private sector / public sector) being trained with “Critical Race Theory,” people believe we may be seeing a new “religion” being formed (a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices). A “religion” fraught with “Marxism.” Irony? Marx despised religion!
Let’s look at how words from a nation founded on “Christian” principles are being transformed into “new Christianity principles.” Moreover, please… remember … there are have been many humans (mostly men) who have WARPED Christianity to obtain power over the masses. This is all about power!
In the 19th century, the word “equity” had a foundation based on the Bible.
In the 21st century, what is the foundation of the word “equity?”
Let’s look at another word that has gone through this transformation: mercy.
In the 19th century, the word “mercy”
MER’CY, noun [Latin misericordia.] 1828 Webster Dictionary http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/mercy
- That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being. The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty. Numbers 14:18.
- An act or exercise of mercy or favor. It is a mercy that they escaped
I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies. Genesis 32:1. - Pity; compassion manifested towards a person in distress.
And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Luke 10:37. - Clemency and bounty.
Mercy and truth preserve the king; and his throne is upheld by mercy Proverbs 28:18 - Charity, or the duties of charity and benevolence.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Matthew 9:13 - Grace; favor. 1 Corinthians 7:25. Jude 1:2.
- Eternal life, the fruit of mercy2 Timothy 1:2
- Pardon. I cry thee mercy with all my heart
- The act of sparing, or the forbearance of a violent act expected. The prisoner cried for mercy
To be or to lie at the mercy of, to have no means of self-defense, but to be dependent for safety on the mercy or compassion of another, or in the power of that which is irresistible; as, to be at the mercy of a foe, or of the waves.
In the 21st century…
Definition of MERCY https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mercy
1a: compassion or forbearance (see FORBEARANCE sense 1) shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power also : lenient or compassionate treatment begged for mercy
b: imprisonment rather than death imposed as penalty for first-degree murder
2a: a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion May God have mercy on us.
b: a fortunate circumstance it was a mercy they found her before she froze
3: compassionate treatment of those in distress works of mercy among the poor
Again, this transformation of our nation is not being taught to you (my students). You (my students) are not being taught that INDEED our nation was founded on Biblical principles. You (my students) know you are not. Just look at the example of the definitions of the words! Any ideas about why are you not being taught our nation was founded on Biblical principles? Maybe you could ask.
The point of today’s post is our nation is being changed and WE CAN SEE THE CHANGE. If there is a positive about social media / technology, the information is at the end of our arms. In generations prior, we would have to go to a library or somewhere similar. Only three TV networks covered the news. By the time the change would be accomplished, the “trains would have left the building.”
Now? Because we have greater access / quicker access to the information, our responsibility to maintain our culture has increased. The depressing part? Few want the responsibility to find and share this critical information. Why? The name-calling and accusations you will receive for sharing such critical information is PAINFUL. You can even lose your job or your boss will make your job so miserable, you will quit!
I am accepting the responsibility to share with as many folks as possible: keep EQUALITY our foundation!
“Equity” is not the same as “equality.” We see that. In fact, “equity” is not the same today as it was in 1828! “Equity” in 1828 was BIBLICAL. Now? It is used to get us to destroy the original intent of our nation! No? HYPERBOLE?! Here is an article stating the goal of the Ethnic Studies (which promotes “Equity” through “Ethnic Studies”). You tell me how you read Mr. Pacheco’s thoughts and many others’ goal for Ethnic Studies / “Equity.”
https://www.city-journal.org/california-ethnic-studies-programs-merchants-of-revolution
From Chris Rufo’s – “The Merchants of Revolution”…
Pacheco describes this process as transforming students into “activist intellectuals” who “decodify systems of oppression” into their component parts, including “white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, genocide, private property, and God.”
In the end, please be brave / courageous and become more educated and SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE! Words Matter. Definition of Words Matter. There is a battle going on now. On behalf of all teachers who wanted to make you the best Patriotic Americans you could be – instead of “activist intellectuals” (Jorge Pacheco) – I apologize for your generation being stuck in the middle.
Making you “better Americans / PATRIOTIC Americans” was strongly ENCOURAGED!
The Education Code of the State of California, Section 52720 , states in part that: In every public secondary school there shall be conducted daily appropriate patriotic exercises. The giving of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America shall satisfy such requirement. Just out of curiosity? Since March 13, 2020… has your “California Public School” done this? Daily? What is considered “patriotic?”
Finding an agreement on what WE ALL WILL DO IN ONE VOICE THAT IS A PATRIOTIC EXERCISE is a struggle. Part of the “Plot to Change America.”
Left side of the road – safe.
Right side of the road – safe.
In the middle of the road – SQUISH – like a grape. —
The great Karate Master – Miyagi!!
(smile / wink… go watch KOBRA KAI… have fun)
My next “Letter to My Students” will be about how do you (Mr. Everts) stay optimistic that the United States of America will survive this recent challenge. Hint: THERE ARE 320 MILLION CITIZENS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THOSE WHO WANT TO HAVE MORE “MARXISM” IN OUR NATION ARE THE FEW… very few. THERE ARE MANY WHO ARE READY TO SAY, “ENOUGH!” Pay attention! Marxism / Socialism FAILS! The United States of America is a great nation, but not great enough to be the FIRST to prove Marxism and / or Socialism works / can be successful!
I will leave you with this OPTIMISTIC statement. There are hundreds of millions who believe in the following statement by Thomas Jefferson:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
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The Plot to Change America
https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Change-America-Identity-Politics/dp/1641771003
Cynical Theories
Heaven on Earth: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism
Marxism