Happy Friday Everyone,

Learning is a social behavior. Education – at its very best – is a community experience. When we come together we have the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of others, to respond to questions that challenge our beliefs, and to rethink our work.

Left to ourselves our learning is limited. When we are surrounded by others who share our ideas, there is little to push our thinking beyond our experiences. It is by interacting with others that our world expands, that new ideas come to our attention, and that we are challenged to examine our assumptions.

During these times the social interaction that is part of learning has been challenged. Ironically, we have responded by educating ourselves about the virus. Our efforts to study the virus have produced a new set of skills that allow us to socialize differently. We have learned that if we want to be together, then we have to do three things: wear proper masks properly, wash our hands, and watch our distance.

It is difficult to change our behavior. Developing new habits takes time and effort. The success of that change often depends on the rewards to be reaped from those efforts. When we find ourselves in a steep learning curve we often ask this question: Is the effort worth it?

By wearing masks, washing our hands, and watching our distance we can socialize in a new way. We can spend time with friends, we can walk about in the community, and we can come together to learn from and with each other. Learning has given us an option, and provided us with a way to move forward with our lives while we wait for the time when we can be together again as we want.

Peace,

Chris