The following column was written by Michael McClune, an Arisonan who describes himself as, “Strategist | Warrior philosopher. Exposing the system — Waking up the people it was built to control.”

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Prologue by Mickey Dunaway

Laura Lee Pike, a former teacher who worked for me at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City, Alabama posted it on Facebook. I value Laura’s opinion because I know her, and know how she teaches her students and how her students think of her. You see, my son Christian—now 53 years old had Ms. Pike as his tenthgrade English teacher. And because I saw her teach many students many times, I know her down deep where it really matters. She is a truth-teller. She does not give students grades they do not deserve—again, because as principal and parent, I know her.

I am sharing this on Southern Exposures, because it made me think. Perhaps it answered a few of questions about the state of America today. That will be seen upon more reflection. I present it to you in that same vane. I don’t care if you are conservative or liberal, ask yourself if McCune’s words contain any elements of truth or ideas that have not occured to you before. If it does, talk about it with another person, perhaps of a different political persuasion than yours.

A final thought. As I first read this piece I asked myself who were the people I know beyond any doubt who earned a measure of wisdom from their experiences. The first people I thought of were the hundreds of teachers I have taught with, observed their teaching directly , and saw how they treated the kids under their tutelage. It is time American society listened to the hard-won-wisdom of our teachers and give them their due with our support for higher wages and more importantly place them on the pedestal of honors with physicians, attorneys, and statesmen.

Now for the words of Mr. McClune.

MD

A Dose of Reality and Wisdom

A lot of people feel it right now, even if they can’t quite explain it.

Things don’t just feel divided, they feel irrational.

Like common sense left the room and nobody noticed. So let’s start somewhere familiar.

If you’re a parent, think back to your child at 17 years old. Now, depending on your age, this may be harder than it sounds.

If you’re over 65, your 17-year-old likely grew up with real conversations, real consequences, real-world experiences, and a mostly offline childhood. They learned how to navigate life face-to-face, not through a screen. So, you’ll need to stretch a bit to connect the dots.

For this example, I’m going to use Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — not to pick on her, but to create a parallel people can understand.

AOC enrolled at Boston University at 17 years old, in 2007.

𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

2007 was the year the first iPhone was released. Facebook was just taking off. Social media hadn’t merely entered society yet, it was about to replace real life itself.

From that point forward, an entire generation didn’t just use social media. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭.

We moved from real conversations, real feedback, real consequences, and five-sense experiences to a digital world where validation, outrage, and belief systems are curated by algorithms.

Back to the example.

AOC entered college studying international relations and economics — political and ideological subjects — before she had lived any real adult life at all. At that stage, her worldview was shaped almost entirely by institutions, professors, academic theory, and emerging media narratives.

Her bartending job came later. At the time she entered college, she wasn’t even old enough to legally enter a bar, let alone gain meaningful real-world experience from one.

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Some of you don’t have kids.

So think about yourself.

What were you like at 20? At 30? At 40? Maybe even 50?

People say kind things to me all the time. “Michael, you’re wise.” And while I appreciate that, I can promise you, that was not true of me in my 20s. Probably not my 30s either. And I’m willing to bet that’s true for most of you reading this.

𝐖𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬.

𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

From love and loss.

From trial and error.

From success and failure.

From getting things wrong, paying the price, and learning something real.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝.

But the people seeking to run our country today aren’t people who ever put themselves out into the real world long enough to have those experiences.

AOC, for example, can never fully understand the world, not because she is unintelligent, but because she never allowed herself to experience it. And she grew up at a time when real-world experience was barely even an option anymore.

She now publicly dismisses Elon Musk, a self-made man who built multiple world-changing companies, as unintelligent.

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.

Here we have a young woman who has never built anything of consequence herself yet cannot even recognize intelligence when it is demonstrated through creation, execution, and results. You don’t have to like Elon Musk. You don’t have to agree with him. But being unable to recognize competence when it’s staring you in the face is a failure of judgment, not morality.

History makes this distinction very clear.

[T]𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫.

She routinely criticizes Donald Trump, another self-made man who currently leads the most powerful nation on Earth — and has done so with measurable success.

If you are promising to lead this country, yet you are unwilling — or unable — to honestly acknowledge the strengths and successes of the sitting leader of your own nation, then you are not demonstrating leadership. You are demonstrating immaturity.

If I were running for office — which I am not — and I truly believed I was the best person for the job, I would begin by openly recognizing what my opponent had done right. Then I would explain how I would build upon those successes to take the country even further.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲. I𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

But we see none of that. No such wisdom. No such awareness. No such calm or rationality.

Now bring this back to what we’re seeing today. When you see chaos in the streets, including places like Minneapolis, don’t focus so much on who is protesting.

P𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐧ot protesting. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬.

People with jobs. People with families. People with responsibilities. People with experience, perspective, and yes, intelligence. They don’t stand outside in freezing temperatures throwing rocks and bricks at authorized federal officers doing the job the American people mandated them to do.

T𝐡e protestors’ 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.

It comes from young anarchists, disconnected from real-world responsibility, convinced that chaos, filmed and shared, can replace lived experience and persuade older, wiser Americans to abandon what they already know to be true.

A𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 — 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞.

For those of you who have lived a full life, who are nearing retirement or already there, I understand the fatigue. You’ve worked hard, raised families, built careers, and earned the right to enjoy the years ahead. You want to pass the nation forward and finally rest.

𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲. A𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞.

It means we must remain vigilant and diligent. It means we cannot fall into the traps being set — traps designed to exhaust you, anger you, and make you uncomfortable.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲.

When people are uncomfortable, they tend to vote against whoever is currently in charge. In this case, that’s Donald Trump.

𝐒𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬.

If we hold the House and the Senate, this chaos will lose its power quickly — because it will no longer have leverage over the court of public opinion.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.

𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬.

SHARE TRUTH not outrage  — SHARE HOPE not fear.

Epilogue by Mickey Dunaway

I am a middle-of-the road-conservative who leans a good bit to the left because I was as a teacher in every job I had in education. Education is a profession that observes and directly daily meets the human condition in classrooms and hallways. One cannot be successful as a teacher in the fullness of the meaning of that term without encountering in the chaos of job in buildings, on the buses, on athletic fields, on the telephone and vile threats through electronic ones and zeroes from parents to politicians. In my experience chaos can be made to disappear for time through standards applied with compassion for the state of the human condition sitting in the desk in front of you.

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Many years ago as a high school principal equally proud of our academic successes and our successes in athletics and the arts, two people sat in front of desk asking for a solution to most human problem. One them was my head football coach, a friend and colleague from whom I learned how to mitigate problems that seemed beyond my experience and learning. The second person was a big sophomore offensive lineman who the kids and coaches called “Baby” because that is what his family had called him all his life as the baby of the family. He was the epitome of the “good kid” with an almost tangible future ahead of him in football. However, “Baby” had been found with a small amount of marijuana on his person—a very clear rule with very clear consequences that would necessitate a suspension of at least three days and no participation in school events. Since this was a Wednesday morning, “Baby” would not be able to participate in Friday’s game or come on campus or attend any school event. The three people in my office were finding it hard to talk. Tears in the eyes has that effect. My job was to administer the punishment without using “Baby” away from the football program and coach who would help him continue to grow physically and intellectually and morally.

That conference was the most deserving of a balance of love and stiffness. Much like raising my son who also played for my friend and colleague, the coach. As I remember it, Baby recovered and never had another misbehavior problem in his high school days.

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The sum and substance for me in past future periods of chaos, is that no person can be, nor should they be, all conservative or all liberal every minute of their days. We must be situational within the context of a particular event that confronts us in our approach humankind. We must teach by example. High standards without a plan to humanely address failure are not high standards at all. They are weapons used indiscriminately or maybe even discriminately, but they do not define conservative philosophy. Standards are important. Otherwise we never grow as individuals or a society, but they must be implemented with the proverbial iron fist in the velvet glove.

The past provides insights, but it seldom provides legitmate answers to the changing values and behavior of today’s society. Neither will the future birth the sure answers.

There is an old saw that says: To every complex problem there is a simple answer … and its wrong! – MD