All my life I have been a voracious reader - which is just how my mother raised me - and from a young age have never really fit in well with the way the world can be. I grew up on a small 10 acre farm and much preferred hanging out with all the life forms there (especially the squirrels, rabbits, bumblebees, crows, and trees) rather than being out in the world. I was a quiet, gentle little boy who, when he had to go out to school, preferred being with girls. This made me an easy target for bullies. I was constantly told that I was "too sensitive to the suffering of others" to which I always wondered why whomever made that comment wasn't more sensitive themselves.
I always felt as if I was born too late because all my favorite authors and thinkers were before my time. However, since Generation Z students have showed up in my classes, I am now starting to feel as if I was born too early. Many of their concerns about the world are the same as I've had since childhood, and the adult world is responding to them much as it did to me when I was young - telling me I was too sensitive, saying I didn't know what I was talking about because I was a kid, etc. - and on and on. People my age and older have made a mess of the world and they say all kinds of dumb things about anybody younger or different than themselves. All my life I felt like a lone wolf howling against this sort of thing. Once Generation Z arrived, I suddenly didn't feel alone. I find myself defending them and their concerns constantly, and that's alright with me. They are the smartest generation in a long time and I am not ashamed to admit that they are teaching new perspectives even to me. For the first time in a long while I am starting to have hope that we are going to evolve and build a better world safe for everybody and everything. I may not live long enough to see it fully realized, but while I'm still here you can bet that I will be in their corner all the way... Peace & Love & Still Learning, Always!