Listening to Trump and clowns, I decided it was a good time to dust this one off in response. Please feel free to circulate far and wide. (Which, I submit, must be our goal for a great many + things that go on all around us.)

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This article was posted here some years ago, but in response to Trump, I think it worth repeating. The original was titled, "Alternatives to Extinction: Learning Together." DG

I spent several weeks contemplating additional "context" that I would add to the following article, which was published originally in the Salt Lake Tribune in 2002. I was going to harp on how all humans have the same DNA, how we all share the same planet, breathe the same air, have the same fundamental needs, and so on and on. But after getting deeper and deeper into a hole of my own making, I've decided the original article speaks for itself. I am merely changing the title from the Tribune's "A Teacher in Babel," to one I'd prefer: Alternatives to Extinction: Learning Together.

Kids in my sixth-grade class on the west side of Salt Lake City rarely focus on skin color or type of hair, but rather on their own fundamental urge to be accepted and treated with dignity.

If you came into one of my science classes, you'd find groups of kids huddled around microscopes, talking away about what they're learning -- and you'd be hard-pressed to decide who came from where since they come from five states, the Congo, Bosnia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Somalia, Tonga, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iceland, Italy and Vietnam.

Children from other countries greatly enrich our classrooms. Often these young people are the most hard-working, conscientious students, and serve as valuable role models. One of my students from Mexico recently went on to be valedictorian in junior high; one of my sixth-grade Mexican boys reads books on a 12th grade level, to cite two examples.

These children are more than willing to help peers with reading, writing or math when they can, regardless of where they're from. Teachers depend on this. One of my Tongan students is recording stories for an African-American boy so he can practice reading at home.

I communicate with a girl from Iran through her Farsi-speaking neighbor, from Pakistan. A Bosnian and an African-American student did a great science project together about the effect of speed on car crashes.

We hear many languages every day in our school. I used to joke with kids who arrived early every day, telling them they made me think I was in Mexico since they spoke mostly Spanish before others arrived. One girl in my class speaks and writes in four languages; trilingual students are common. We hear Somalian, Tongan, Bosnian, German and other languages regularly.

At school functions, we have Tongan or Mexican dancing, singing or music, or a celebration of some other country's holidays, or cooking that originated far away. All are educational, entertaining experiences, and a way for those cultures to show pride in their own heritage.

Unique individuals with powerful interests come through our doors, widening our horizons. I think of a Native American girl who had an exceptional interest in animals and science, a Mexican boy who read all the Newbury Award books he could find, a Vietnamese boy who loved to entertain, a Chinese girl who was determined she'd be a surgeon, an Afghan girl who is an excellent artist, a young Tongan lady whose basketball team placed second in national competition.

This scratches the surface of young people with extraordinary talent and aspirations I've met. With this diversity, of course, comes no shortage of "challenges to be met." For example, a woman who spoke no English was informed that her child had suffered a "bad fall." Her child's name, associated with the word "bad," set off an understandably emotional reaction that took some time to ease with no translator present.

Exclusive or aggressive cliques occasionally form and need to be defused, and it's impossible to get all the requested translators for parent conferences. Poverty and extreme hardship, and sometimes illiteracy, may preclude adequate help with homework. And once in a while, lack of exposure to any school at all, or life in refugee camps, make adjustment to school extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, the experiences of these children teach us much. They have taught us of war and hardship and the challenge of moving to America. One girl wrote about her family and told how her brother and father were lost in Afghanistan. She still doesn't know if her father is dead or alive, yet this girl maintains one of the friendliest dispositions you could imagine.

Several of my students wear burkas. One of my Muslim boys read us an article about burkas last year after Sept. 11, and told us about the peaceful nature of the Koran and about the time he got lost in Mecca.

Last year I thought of my own father fighting Germans in World War II, since I had a German student who worked hard and enjoyed helping those around him. A colleague recently told me about two boys she had from Iran and Iraq who were best of friends. Not only does this diversity result in shared knowledge and learning, it reminds us of the diversity of our own heritage, and that the family of man actually can get along in constructive, harmonious ways.

I once raised my arms to direct a newly arrived Kenyan back down the hall, but he misunderstood and came up and embraced me. That seems like an attitude we would all do well to adopt toward these young human beings who are our future.

(Article changed on November 14, 2016 at 02:44)

Authors Website: http://www.hyperblimp.com

Authors Bio:

In my run for U.S. Senate against Utah's Orrin Hatch, I posted many progressive ideas and principles that I internalized over the years. I'm leaving that site up indefinitely, since it describes what I believe most members of our species truly want: www.voteutah.us. I thank those who sent such wonderful comments, even though it forced me to go buy a few larger hats, which were among my top campaign expenses (just kidding).

My forever-to-write novel (now my favorite book for some unfathomable reason), A Summer with Freeman, finally got out the door, via Kindle and CreateSpace. Readers of this site, and anyone else with two or more brain cells who want some "serious humorous relief" may want to check it out: http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Summer-with-Freeman-nov-by-Daniel-Geery-130528-385.html

My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat would be much infinitely easier with off-the-shelf materials available now, though the bureaucracy holding us back is probably worse. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Living-on-Sunshine-Underg-by-Daniel-Geery-110318-547.html

I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list, but you can find used copies kicking around online. Just don't get the one I see for $250, being hawked by some capitalist... well, some capitalist.

I'm 68 with what is now a 26 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor--and get a heart transplant if you're over 50, unless your name is Dick Cheney.

I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).

I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!). http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_daniel_g_060716_alternatives_to_exti.htm

I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.

"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).

Along with others, I was honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use my airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen and are long overdue, for reasons that would probably not fit on the internet.

In 2010 I married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections. Christine wrote Heart Full of Hope, which many readers have raved about, as you may note on Amazon.

I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking and have read many books on it. I find many many of them insane and the source of much negativity on my part. My favorites these days are by Alan Cohen, who seems to speak my language, and likewise thinks a bit like Albert Einstein did (as do I on this note). Albert: "Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent, in fact, I am religious."

Though I rapidly note that I've kept alive my deceased and "devout atheist" friend's book, http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Foundation-of-Religion-by-Daniel-Geery-110510-382.html

Lastly, kudos to Rob Kall and those who make OEN the site that it is: one of the last bastions of free speech.