We are in the 21st century, and one thing I tell my students is that they must look at all sides and directions of an object to make an informed decision. Once I taught at a workshop at West Point, in New York. One of the themes used by the professor who invited me to co-teach at the Calculus Reform Workshop was that we must encourage people to �Learn how to learn.� I am passing this motto on to you for you to share with the young people in your environs.
There are levels of excellence. For example, I was the valedictorian of a class of only 50 people, while some of these young people in 2006 graduated with several hundred students. Over the years my perception of an international scholar, whether it is a Bible scholar or simply academic scholar, includes a broader world vision to understand prophesy and the times we are living in.
Well, this is April 29, 2006 and some very important discussions are going to ensue on May 9 at the United Nations.
Let me pose an example to you. I study Hebrew with a man who is a holocaust survivor. When he told me a little about his struggle on Friday, April 28, 2006, tears flowed from my eyes. I said to him that it is wonderful that he survived, for I was thinking of God�s provision and grace in his life. He responded by saying that he still remembers the pain of losing his parents, and his sisters, in fact, he added that his entire family was killed during those times. He added that he studies English and keeps very busy so as not to remember the pain that is still embedded in his mind. That is when my tears flowed.
My encounter with Mr. M, the holocaust survivor, deepened my concern about the world, and its cruel behavior to 6 million Jews 60 years ago. The question posed at a conference keeps poping up in my mind: Can it happen again? Is it happening anywhere in the world now?
Can you answer these questions? Do you care? Do you know what the Bible says about the times were are living in?
Good morning [boker tov (good morning) or eret tov (good evening)] and wake up and see where we are and how well you are prepared for the era we live in. And, why not start looking at more than one perspective of an issue, look to the left, to the right, to the top and to the bottom. Analyze the issue for its internal design and then analyze the issue as it relates to impacting issues and items that appear to be external to it. Look at the issue in fixed time and variable time or in a dynamic way. Look at the range of elasticity of an issue�in other words, look for the range of discussion and decision that allows for bounce back, or the point at which there is failure because things have gone too far or you have gone too far.
Basically, I am encouraging you to think and to �learn how to learn� in the 21st century!
Picture: A student, colorful and creative, who survived Katrina and who had to start over again! The hurricane, cyclones and tsunamis cause "natural disaster holocausts" that unsettle entire nations and contiguous nations! Think about it!
