Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Everyone has "Lottery Dreams." YOu know the ones. They start out with thinking, "If I won the lottery I would..." The dreams get interesting once the person gets past the, "I'd pay off all my bills and travel to...," part and the, "and I'd buy a ... for my parents," bits and such. I was thinking about what I'd do the other day it I hit it big in a Megaball drawing or something.

One of the things I've always wished I could do was start a commune for all of my friends. My wife and I will sometimes speak of a particularly dear friend by saying that we'd definitley invite them to The Commune. There'd be lots of land and everyone would have their own house that we'd provide. We'd get together and hang out for Friday afternoon dinner parties and discuss current events and history and science and philosophy. Kelly Kinkaid would be there and so would Dave Cushman. Jim Landes and Mike Ody would be too. My wife would invite Shaun Chavis. Our friends John and Jennifer from Kansas (now in Oregon) would be invited. My brother Chris and his family would be asked to come. There are more than that I'm sure (please don't be offended if you're left out, I probably just need more time to think of your name than I have at the moment).

As I was thinking about this on a recovery ride the other day I realized that the Lottery Dream was incomplete; the Commune would need a purpose, a way to give back to the world that really made a difference. Otherwise it's just another yuppie, gated community that turns its back on the world in fear or disgust or both. As I thouhgt of it I realized that we should build a school for kids that emphasized all the right things about education. We'd go with a Montessori model I think and the members of the Commune could teach or work there if they wanted. Their kids could go there to get a really first rate education that emphasized both the classical and the modern. Tuition would be free and we'd invite kids from the town to join us. Maybe we'd educate the kids of the college professors and K-12 educators for free. We'd ask the parents to chip in a certain amount of time every week or we'd have to charge an outrageously high tuition rate. The school could be in old houses and new buildings on rural land. We could throw the standards out the window and get back to teaching our kids to explore and discover and to not lose the sense of wonder about the world or the ideas of great men like the Bard or the Reverend. They could write about whatever big ideas they had and read about those of others who have gone before them. They could learn Greek and Latin and maybe one or two other languages all from the time that they start in first grade or even Kindergarden.

They'd see respect from the adults and they'd learn to be respectful by beign treated with respect. They'd learn to work hard and succeed and they'd learn to learn from their failures. They'd learn to define themselves from within instead of taking their queues from the world around them who wants them to be all things to all people and hates them when they're not. They'd learn to love and how to be loved.

I told you it was a lottery dream; now here, drink this Kool-Aid.

Thanks for Reading

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