Right! Why not call Governor Youngkin's tip line to complain about teachers?      
Perhaps the Governor should learn a lesson or two.

Florida lawmakers are considering far-reaching legislation that would allow almost anyone to object to any instruction in public classrooms. Governor DeSantis wants people to have the right to sue schools and teachers over what they teach based on student "discomfort".

How do we discuss how some students' ancestors arrived in the U.S. if we can't discuss slavery or the slave trade?

Some say "so what."

"The road to Auschwitz was built by hate but paved with indifference."        
-- Ian Kershaw

How do we discuss the Holocaust without talking about it?

The Nazis knew they could get away with whatever they did because they understood most people either would not care or would be afraid to say anything.

"I need ammunition, not a ride,"
-- Volodymyr Zelenskyy

It turns out that this moment in history calls out for heroism, and one man has conspicuously heeded that call.      
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown toughness, resolve, calmness, a sense of humor, an abiding love of his family and his people, and a sobering, chilling understanding that his life, and that of his family, is in danger.

The greatest commandment is love.

In this moment, we can learn that democracy does not need - and should not seek - the sorts of hero worship that authoritarians demand.      
Zelenskyy and his style of governance represent a democratic hero who reflects he is a person much like those he leads; he is not uniquely strong or macho, he is not endowed with a unique historical destiny. He has frankly admitted he is afraid of dying, afraid of his family dying - he remains in Kyiv out of duty, to resist not only authoritarian violence, but also not to create a vacuum to be filled by authoritarian style rhetoric. 

Michael Blake is a political philosopher who recognizes in Volodymer Zelenskyy a reason for hope among those who favor democracy in this time when the world is increasingly suspicious of democratic ideals and practices. Blake explores how Zelenskyy emerged as the antithesis of Putin and proved one doesn't need to be a strongman to be a great leader.

"Once you enter the role, you play it to the end."

"Zelenskyy has become 'the world's greatest actor' in a real-life struggle between good and evil."

"Glory to Ukraine!"

"Glory to the heroes!"

"Can One Man Save the World?"    
The song, written and released by John Ondrasik (often known by his stage name, 'Five for Fighting') is bringing tears to the eyes of many worldwide who listen (and sing along) with the tribute to the Ukrainian president standing brave against the Russian invasion.

"Can One Man Save the World?"    
Ondrasik said, "We've been longing for someone to stand up and remind us who we are in the West, who would have thought it would be a comedian from Ukraine?"

I heard a woman from Ukraine being interviewed say: "I didn't vote for our President. He's shown us that in times of crisis, real leaders rise to the top. He's fighting for democracy and for his people."

The bonus of showing up for one's own life is that others are there and ready to get on with it.

"Glory to Ukraine!"      
"Glory to the heroes!"

Watching Volodymyr Zelenskyy one thinks, "Wow! this is what a comedian looks like in power."    
President Zelenskyy's leadership is demonstrating how wit and mockery can undermine brutal authority - the heroism of his speeches and public appearances stands out as something not likely to be revised by history.

Senator Cory Booker to Ketanji Brown Jackson: "I just feel this sense of overwhelming joy as I see you sitting there."

"O, yes,      
I say it plain,    
America never was America to me,    
And yet I swear this oath -
America will be!"

from "Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes

Where will we be when Ukraine claims victory over Putin?

It's as simple as:

"Use your words."

"There is no survival for humanity without global peace!"

"The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."    
-- Ida B Wells-Barnett

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty... "

It is very sad to see a political party that trumpets its members' love of virtue continue to lack the will to actually be virtuous.

"I often say that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children."        
-- Georgia Sen Raphael Warnock

What a powerful understanding of what it means to cast a vote.

Life is difficult; do we quit at the first wave of opposition? Are we content to shuffle along with the crowd?
Do we live cautiously or courageously?

It seems we've persuaded ourselves that character does not matter all that much...

There's no merit in living life without scars and defeat. (Do we find nothing in life worth fighting for?)

"Never fight until you have to. (No reason to fight for the sake of fighting: walk away rather than fight needless battles.)
"But when it's time to fight ... fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark and it just started raining." (Fight tirelessly for what really matters.)   -- Christopher Woods

 "Where there is apathy, let (us) provoke;    
  where there is compliance, let (us) bring questioning.        
  Where there is silence, may (we) be a voice ...
  where there are doors closed and hearts locked,        
  (may we have) the willingness to listen.      
  When laws dictate and pain is overlooked...
  When tradition speaks louder than need...  
  may (we) seek rather to do justice
                              than to talk about it"  -- anon

"Your embodied soul is the you that exists beyond any role that you play, any job that you perform, any relationship that seems to define you, or any notoriety or success you may have achieved. It is the part of you that longs for more... "         
-- Ruth Haley Barton.          
 

"The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality."        
-- James Baldwin          
 

Is it possible to be pro-Israel and still value the lives of Palestinians? Is it possible to mourn with Jews and weep over the loss of life in Gaza?

It is not either/or. It is both/and.

It is also possible to yearn for justice without lifting up violence.          
 

"Grant us a vision of unity.        
 Help us to see clearly.      
 Guide us gently and firmly toward each other, toward peace."        
-- Rabbi Sheila Weinberg