We learn from the story of the Magi that those who are wise seek out peacemakers to be educated by them, ‘We saw the child’s star rising… and have come to follow him.’ We learn from the story of Herod that those who are rulers target peacemakers and lie about being educated by them, ‘Go and search diligently for the child… that I too may follow him.’ Fortunately, the Magi were wise about the lying ruler.
Unfortunately, many people today are not wise about this era’s lying rulers. They confuse a ruler’s positional authority and their deception about information with moral authority and the ability to provide education. Every first day in the New Year, Francis, with positional authority as Pope, publishes a World Day of Peace message that attempts to encourage people for moral authority on education. Francis’ 2022’s message of Peace is titled, “Dialogue Between Generations, Education and Work: Tools for Building Lasting Peace.” The message applies well to our time of celebrating Wise Ones seeking education who are faced with political rulers intending deception. Political rulers tend toward dictatorship, meaning absolute control, especially in empires such as the U.S. U.S. dictators, specifically GOP right wing dictators, along with their supporters, are intending to deceive people across public education, for example about elections and about military weaponry. This combination is a direct attack on public education and is producing a threatening and dangerous culture, especially for our youth. Public education has many forms; art and museums, books, colleges, health communiques, medical knowledge, libraries, media – especially news media, periodicals/magazines, the Post Office, radio, schools, school boards and school curriculum, and social media. All of these are forms of public education and all of them are under attack by those seeking absolute control, dictators. GOP dictators correctly understand public education is vital to free people, to critical thinkers, and are thus undermining dialogue across the public education culture. At the same time, they are promoting weaponry, guns especially, and civil war. It is thus important to note Pope Francis’ New Year’s message of Educating for Peace. He writes, “teaching and education are the foundations of a cohesive civil society capable of generating hope.” “In recent years, there has been a significant reduction worldwide in funding for education and training.” “Yet they are the primary means of promoting integral human development… (and) peace. Military expenditures, on the other hand, have increased… exorbitantly.” Pope Francis, perhaps more hopefully than accurately, identifies governments as change agents. He states, “It is high time, then, that governments develop economic policies aimed at inverting the proportion of public funds spent on education and on weaponry. … disarmament… (frees) up financial resources better used for health care, schools, infrastructure, care of the land and so forth. It is my hope that investment in education will also be accompanied by greater efforts to promote the culture of care.” That culture of care is threatened by GOP dictators and their culture of deception. They are like the deceptive dictator Herod and unlike the wise Magi – are are intending violence and are not intending peacemaking. U.S. GOP dictator culture is promoting not education for a lasting peace but a dictatorial compliance to a warring cult of personality. As such, it is hindering deeper education on moral authority in the public sphere.
A people “flourishes when constructive dialogue occurs between its many rich cultural components: popular culture, university culture, youth culture, artistic culture, technological culture, economic culture, family culture and media culture. It is essential, then, to forge a new cultural paradigm through a global pact on education for and with future generations, one that commits families, communities, schools, universities, institutions, religions, governments and the entire human family to the training of mature men and women.” (Pope Francis)
Prayer: Spirit of Peace, guide us to publicly educate for lasting peace.
Question: What actions do I take to promote education for a lasting peace?
January 02, 2022 Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 Epiphany