Coming out from a long cold winter. . . .

Wow,

I'm in the Spring

of 2013. 

We made it to the other side.

I will admit, I've been way too busy

to even find words.

I'm deluged in the words of others.

The words of young people,

some of whom

are strangers in the land of written words.

Still,

I could write for hours about what my students say.

I heard a great idea today:

A student named Anthony presented an argumentative paper to me,

and his thesis was that we have to train everyone to be able to recognize

the signs of depression. 

And I said:

Everyone?  How can we do that?

And he said:

Change the education system.

He went on to say:

We worry about physical health,

and we have to take classes about that,

but why not mental and emotional health?

He proposed changes to curricula, beginning at the lowest grades,

in which we teach young people about their emotions.

We can teach them, he said, about the fact that they'll

be sad and happy and frustrated and angry

all in the same day,

and that's normal.

We can teach them ways to manage

their emotional states.

(Like yoga and meditation, I would add.  He didn't say that.)

And we can make it mandatory, Anthony said, throughout their education.

Because our emotional needs change, you know?

Yeah, I know, I said.

Anthony also thought we should teach, in this class,

morality and ethics,

separate from any religion.

So the young know that's it feels best

when they do the right thing.

As Anthony left my office, I thanked him.

And I felt exceedingly 

happy.

Because I think Anthony has a fabulous idea,

that could change the world,

and if Anthony,

and the thousands of young psychology majors in the world

all feel the same way about this,

well, 

we may be going in the right direction,

after all.