The Cow & The Ice Cream

In the current election cycle in the USA, and probably in many other countries, we would be well served to remember the story I received in an email today. I have copied it below.

My thoughts:

• There is no free lunch; you cannot get something and expect it to come out of thin air. Politicians are great at making promises and not delivering them after they get elected. We must have a questioning attitude about all the promises we hear.
• Despite what the major political parties tell us, we do have more than two choices. We do not have to settle for one or the other. For some, the Libertarian Party may be a good match. For others, the Green Party would be a great choice. I suggest that making a choice based on fear is not in our best interest. If we choose candidate A mostly because we fear or dislike candidate B, then that is not a great selection.

Here is the story I received today:

We are worried about 'the cow' when it is all about the 'Ice Cream.'

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching 3rd grade this year.

The Presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest.

I decided we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.

We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.

We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.

I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches.

Jamie went first.

He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.

Everyone applauded and he sat down.

Now is was Olivia's turn to speak.

Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream."

She sat down.

The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."

She surely would say more. She did not have to.

I initiated the discussion that followed. "How did you plan to pay for the ice cream?"

She wasn't sure. But no one pursued that question. They took her at her word.

Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it... She didn't know.

The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream...