Public School Educators Promote "The General Welfare" of All Citizens

We take much for granted.  Sometimes we lose sight of what our founding fathers, men and women who worked for a cause far greater than themselves, knew was important.  They were interested in the “general welfare” of all citizens, not just their own welfare, and they often sacrificed their own welfare, and that of their families, to “secure the blessings of liberty” for all citizens. 

In today's "personalized playlist" society we live in, our pursuit of happiness often means we  choose a singular, “I want my fair share” perspective.  Our focus on "mine and mine alone" sometimes discounts the welfare of our neighbors.  Politically, religiously, socially, economically, it can seem like it is every man or woman for him or herself.  Compromise, consensus, give and take, a larger perspective, the commond good?  Does anyone think about the welfare of others anymore?

 

I think many do.  Public schools educators do.  The essence of their work is to “promote the general welfare” of all Americans and our society as a whole.  In my mind, the work of public schools does more to secure “the blessings of liberty” for our citizens than any other institution.

The authors of our country’s constitution wrote the words “general welfare” and “blessings of liberty” in the preamble purposefully to remind each succeeding generation of Americans of what is necessary to insure our nation’s future.  Helping our nation’s children succeed is the single most important task we have as a nation, and the most important task we have to achieve a “more perfect union.”