by Jane Vella,
Ed.D.
GLP Founder
What color is your bag, lady?
Hope is a memory of the future.
When JUBILEE Popular Education Center was started, twenty-five years ago, I used to say that my planning included a decision on what color my bag (as a bag lady) should be! This was a bit of hyperbole, of course, but it was not unfounded. I was struggling in 1981 to make a living after having left a university position to go to Zimbabwe to work on their literacy campaign.
Twenty-five years later, I know the color of my bag. You see it on this page. This is the wonderful bag signed by all at the Second Dialogue Education Conference and decorated so bautifully by the conference artists. These friends are symbolic of all the friends I have made and met across the years, across the world. Each one has added color to my bag! Each has preserved me from the poverty that terrified me in 1981--not by adding funds to my bank, but by adding color to my life.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Happy are we when we realize that we are always in need of someone to add color and meaning, warmth and love to our life. We are not alone. In Global Learning Partners courses we teach the value of Dialogue Education, involving others in our learning, and we in theirs.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Happy are we when we realize that we are ready to learn from anyone we meet. Happy are we when we know deeply our own emptiness and vulnerability, and celebrate it. Happy are we when we doubt what we already know, when we question as good scientists the models we presently use in order to make them better.
This is a season of giving which can last all year long when we are contented to be poor in spirit!
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