For many Americans, 2021 was either a blur or a bust. The challenging mix of blending a positive attitude with the realities of managing health and safety protocols, economic instability, inequality, grief from the loss of loved ones and employment and housing conditions often fostered spirits of depression or disassociation. For many, the anticipation for a restart with the 2022 new year was, not surprisingly, high on the holiday gift list.

I certainly wouldn’t be upset if my wishes were to come true. Despite a year filled with personal and professional accomplishments, including a coronavirus-free health status, I have taken notice of disturbing matters that I would prefer were changed or altogether absent this year. Please indulge me as I share a few “pebbles in my shoe.” In other words, good riddance to the following matters that made me question the root cause and whose need it was satisfying:

  1. We should pay more attention to how little Brown and Black people are often erased from society. For example, am I the only one who eagerly watches sporting events on television and takes note that more often than not (i.e., 99% of the time), the camera will pan out over the audience to catch an adoring or engaging fan…and the fan is a White person? It hurts to be erased – to not be seen. The animated or completely oblivious White person may be worthy of the media exposure, but why does the audience rarely see a spotlight on a person of color? And I add that this person of color is usually a lighter hue than another more melanated one. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) attend games, cheer, rant, and make stupid faces for the camera too. I remain hopeful this year that whoever calls the shot on who gets the cameo will consider that there is a diverse fan base and not everyone cares to always see, in particular, White women with blond hair, before commercial breaks and replays.
  2. Have university instructors become the victims of student bullies? Due to my own anguish of experiencing young learners who were fragile in their ability to examine uncomfortable equity topics, I recently conducted my own informal study to understand if my situation was unique. Hearing from faculty colleagues across the country, I quickly learned that I was not alone in the sentiment shared by professors struggling greatly with “bad behavior” in the classroom. The student descriptors include a general disrespect of academia, a profound unwillingness to do the work, a desire to “cut corners” by asking for unwarranted deadline extensions and samples of previous students’ assignments, and a general lack of preparedness for discussion. And sadly, their cries of “I need more attention” has caused many professors and administrators (due to financial needs of departments) to give way to their browbeating by changing curricula, grades, and instructors. For many It was the year of being a professorial pawn. For the first time in my life, I questioned my love of teaching and what my generation did to them. Did our kowtowing to all their needs, overexposure to communication devices, fear-focus, protective efforts, and removal from struggle and hard work create this new breed? I am certainly committed to being better pedagogically and to rethinking this dynamic art of teaching because the pain is real. It would be wonderful though if 2022 became the year that learners who enrolled in college, especially graduate programs, have a clear understanding that the curriculum is rigorous, privilege must be checked at the door, and unlike their childhood, not everyone will receive a trophy.
  3. Acquiring stuff clutters the mind and one’s physical space. I am not immune to the socialization and conditioning in our country that emphasizes and values the finer things in life. That is, how big is your home, what car do you drive, where you are employed, what brands do you wear, and what schools did you attend. My travels over the past year have helped me to truly appreciate that “less is more.” I was blessed to visit Costa Rica and found the level of kindness, simplicity of living, and the absence of things to be refreshing and inspirational. Conversations about corruption, profits, and war can be informative and simultaneously rather depressing. If only everyone had the means and opportunity to sit still at the beach and stare at the ocean or walk through a rainforest to see the amazing biodiversity. Viewing and hearing butterflies, bees, coatis, monkeys, red eye frogs, sloths, or even wild boar and big cats, in their natural habitat calms the mind and spirit. 2022 can be the year this outlook fosters a reimagination of what is important, a slow down or reset of the “go, go, and go some more” rat race, and why we should donate more of our belongings while we are alive. As it has been said, let go and let God.
  4. As a public educator and lifelong learner about race and racism, I have been going deeper in my knowledge about the brain and childhood development. Dr. Howard Perry and Oprah Winfrey’s bestseller, What Happened to You? and Netflix’s top series, Maid, touched me immensely. These works of art made me reflect on the importance of connectedness and the neuroplasticity of the brain. What we experience or feel as an infant through early childhood affects us greatly and yet, we all have the capacity to override any traumatic events – if we are willing to do the brain work. Learning about core regulatory networks and how we are wired to seek comfort requires us to better understand our own journey before we can create and nurture new relationships. The implicit bias that causes harm and unnecessary deaths must be analyzed with a racial lens that will reprogram our patterns and associations. In 2022 it is possible for us to love more.

We dream. We create. We celebrate. 2022 promises us nothing, and yet we have the creative aptitude and power to design our next. There are many things and beliefs from 2021 that need to join us in 2022. That which leaves us with limited or zero room to grow, an advancement of exclusivity, and an amplification of our negative stress must be left behind. Let’s all take the time to do the necessary exploration of what stays and what goes. We can even adopt the message of the influential philosopher, Paulo Freire, who expressed his faith in “the creation of a world in which it will be easier to love.” There is a better way. Let’s build it together.

“Never Too Far” contains perspectives and insights from an inquisitive and engaged Orange County transplant from Philly. Deborah Stroman is an entrepreneur and UNC leadership professor who has seen too much and not enough, and thus continues to question and explore the thoughts and actions of humankind.

 

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