MONDAY MARCH 8TH - I WANT TO BE A CLONE

 MONDAY, MARCH 8TH, I WANT TO BE A CLONE!!! INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

There was a song from Steve Taylor - originally done in 1983, called “I want to be a clone”.

It is about a person who makes a personal religious commitment and now wants to share his or her faith, but the old-timers say “No, you’re too young, you have to be older before you can step out”.  (In his words, he had to be “a clone” of the senior people.) 

Some positions in life are like that.  You graduate from college and get a great job in your academic field (maybe even get a doctorate) and you are ready to contribute to the organization.  BUT … you’re a junior partner, as an assistant professor, then an associate professor before you can become a FULL PROFESSOR!!!  In some organizations you don’t get to be on the “good” committees, you don’t get recognized for years.  You are a ‘rookie’ for years until you get established until you have enough publications, you have enough years of service, you have status in the field.

And, as an assistant professor your publications are not in the “right” journals, if you are not in the ‘right’ organizations if your teaching is not outstanding, you may be asked to leave (aka “fired”).  It is best to be a clone!!!  

DON’T ROCK THE BOAT!!!  

Or, in other words, “be a clone”.

Like Sam Rayburn, long-time speaker of the United States House of Representatives said “If you want to get along, go along”. (From 1940 to 1948, and again from 1953 to 1955) 

Don’t make waves. Go with the flow.  Don’t rock the boat.  “Fit in”.

*****

Now, sometimes as a student (and especially an elementary student), we WANT to fit in.  (Good teachers know NOT to pick on a student for doing something wrong, but find something to praise).

We have used the phrase “Color outside the lines”.  Be different.  But in kindergarten and even at home, the teacher (or family member) may criticize you if you make your grass orange, your trees purple, and color outside the lines.  I have been substitute teaching in some of the middle schools in Georgetown Texas and for some kids, the very last thing they want is the teacher to recognize them (good or bad).  If the teacher praises the student, after class their classmates may tease and call the student “a teacher’s pet”; and if the teacher condemns the student like “That was a very stupid answer Wayne”, don’t expect that student to give an answer in the future.  

But, by high school and college, we start to encourage individuality.  Learning how NOT to be a clone, how to “rock the boat” gently, or how to “go with the flow”, but be a leader or unique is okay.  

It can be a fine line.  Some kids who break out of the pattern find negative ways - drugs, alcohol, gangs, goth expressions.  

It is alright to be different.  

I have a theme this week - ultimately it is to be vulnerable.  My biblical thought for the week is “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  

*****

HISTORICAL VIEW

100 years ago, a son followed his father in his father’s career.  Dad was a farmer, you became a farmer, if dad was a butcher, you became a butcher.  “There still are some businesses where the son follows his father, but not as many.

And, 100 years ago, women stayed in the home.  Not much for women’s careers.  In the 1930s my mother taught school, but when she married, married women couldn’t teach!!!  (Talk about male domination).  When I was a child, my parents had a candy store, which really was my mother’s business as my father worked as a furniture salesman.  After that, my mother worked in a retail department store. When my sister was getting ready for college, my mother went back to teaching.  She had an old one-year teaching certificate, but the State of Iowa then required teachers to have at least an associate (two-year) degree - and by the time she finished a bachelor’s degree that was required.  

History has called World War II people, the “Greatest Generation”.  Although it was a song from World War I “How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm After they've seen Paree' (1919)

World War II was massive - two fronts - Europe and Pacific.  Since warfare at that time was primarily men, women were employed in the manufacturing sector.  “Rosie the Riveter” became the poster woman.  

And, when the war was over, women kept working outside the home.  Those who served in the military got the GI Bill and went to college and got degrees - and didn’t go back to the farm, or the butchery shop, or bakery.  There were engineers, lawyers, doctors, and all kinds of professional people.  You didn’t have to be a clone of Mom or Dad.  

Early careers for women were as secretaries (typists), nurses (medical staff), and teachers.  In 2021, women are found in almost every profession (as are men).  

March is also National Women’s History Month.  There are some good reasons for March to be National Women’s History Month, such as:

.1 Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in all federally funded education programs, was passed by the Senate on March 1, 1972. It became law later that year. In fact, the educators who formed the first Women's History Week a few years later did so to help schools comply with Title IX regulations.

. 2 The Equal Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment that guarantees rights regardless of sex past those assured by the 19th Amendment, passed the Senate on March 22, 1972. (P.S. -- it's still not fully ratified.)

.3 Earlier in the 20th century, two significant women's suffrage events took place in March. The first major suffragist parade took over Washington, DC, on March 3, 1913, and the National Woman's Party, a political group dedicated to women's suffrage, was officially formed in March 1917.

Learning to be unique, to NOT be a clone is important!!!  Come back this week to look at authenticity and uniqueness. 

LOVE WINS!!!

Hugs!!!

Karen