Few would argue with the assertion that many Americans are facing uncertainty in their lives.  We are living through a rather complicated period in our nation’s history.  Economic difficulties have plagued countless families, and millions of people are desperate to find even the slightest glimmer of hope.

This degree of desperation tends to cloud people’s minds to an extent that they are willing to accept anything that sounds as if it will provide some sort of relief to their economic difficulties.  It should come as no surprise that politicians are far too willing to capitalize on this fact by providing quick and easy answers to a frantic public.  Sadly, this seems to work all too well.

On Tuesday, voters in New Jersey chose to unseat their incumbent governor and replace him with a man who offered quick and easy solutions to the economic difficulties facing their state.  I am making no personal judgment as to which candidate was better qualified to hold the office.  However, I am deeply concerned that a climate has been created in which quick and easy answers have triumphed over long term thinking and basic human compassion.

The governor elect has been quite vocal about his opposition to programs that have been created to strengthen the very basis of modern society… the education of our children.  Specifically, he has expressed the opinion that the incredibly successful early childhood education programs implemented in the inner cities are wasteful, going so far as to suggest that it was somehow little more than state subsidized “babysitting”.

Perhaps he has never had the good fortune to look into the eyes of a teacher holding a tiny plastic key chain.

I had the opportunity to speak with a woman who has devoted her entire life to providing a quality education to inner city children.  She was obviously quite distraught over the potential damage that could be done to early childhood education in New Jersey.  For several years, she has been part of the programs which have provided educational equality and opportunity to the children of Camden.  She now faces the very real possibility that everything she has worked so hard for will soon be ground to dust.

She spoke with intelligence and passion.  I stood and watched as her eyes conveyed a veritable roller coaster of emotion… one minute joy, then fear, then anger, then pride, and even an occasional tear.  As I listened, I couldn’t help but notice that she clutched her keys tightly in her hands as if her very life depended on it.  Soon I discovered that this wasn’t just a quirk or figment of my imagination.  It wasn’t the keys she was was clutching after all…

It was a tiny plastic key chain.

It wasn’t much to look at, really.  It was only about three cents worth of little plastic beads bound together by a three inch length of string.  It was the sort of thing you would probably kick aside if you saw it lying in the street.

Then she opened her hand and lifted it to show me.  She showed me why she held it so dearly.  She showed me why it was a talisman from which she drew her strength.

The little beads spelled out her name.  This seemingly insignificant chain of shiny plastic beads was a gift given to her by one of her students.  The fact that the letters spelled her name was a demonstration of the fact that this student had taken the cognitive leap of truly understanding that letters and numbers had meaning.  It was a validation of everything to which she had chosen to devote her entire life.

And it was a symbol of everything shortsighted politicians seek to destroy.

People of New Jersey, please don’t let this happen.  Please understand that cuts to public education do irreparable damage to our children and society as a whole.  Please… please… contact your elected officials and let that know that any short range benefits you might gain are simply not worth the long term damage they will cause.  We can not stand by and let them destroy our schools, condemn our children to a life of ignorance, and rip away everything for which our educators have worked so hard.

If one tiny plastic key chain can mean so much, then just imagine what thousands could do.