Saturday, September 18, 2021
VIEWPOINTS
East Oregonian
A5
What stories are you listening to?
BETTE
HUSTED
FROM HERE TO ANY WHERE
S
tories surround us. Which ones have
you been listening to? Maybe you’ve
been grateful for the comfort of the
familiar sounds coming from the Round-Up
Arena and the voices of children returning to
school playgrounds at recess.
Or maybe you have been sobered by the
stories from Afghanistan and from veterans
who lost friends there or left friends there.
The 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks has brought new focus not only to the
losses of that day but the sacrifices our culture
has made to fear and a reassessment of our
place in the world. And then there’s COVID-
19 and the delta variant, hospitals struggling
to keep up, lost loved ones.
Lately I’ve been finding inspiration in
David Treuer’s essay “A Sadness I Can’t
Carry: The Story of the Drum” from the Sept.
3 issue of New York Times Magazine. Treuer
was hit hard with the deaths of both parents
and the loss of his marriage, and devastated
by the unexpected deaths of two close friends,
one after the other. Like all of us, he’s strug-
gling. But the essay is about his Ojibway
culture’s way of dealing with grief by sharing
HOW MANY OF US HAVE TURNED TO MARY
OLIVER’S POEM “WILD GEESE”? “YOU DO NOT
HAVE TO BE GOOD / YOU DO NOT HAVE TO
WALK ON YOUR KNEES / FOR A HUNDRED MILES
THROUGH THE DESERT REPENTING …
TELL ME ABOUT DESPAIR, YOURS, AND I
WILL TELL YOU MINE.”
it, and by others’ willingness to help bear his
personal grief through the ceremony of the
Big Drum.
This practice began, he says, around 1850.
One hundred years after the Ojibway had
attacked and driven the Dakota people away
from their forests and out onto the plains, the
Dakota returned with a big drum and a way
to help their killers and their own survivors
deal with guilt and grief. As we know, killers
inflict grief upon themselves as well as others.
In these ceremonies — which are open to
outsiders — members of the drum, often
veterans of wars, wash the tears of those who
are grieving. They literally wash their faces,
braid and comb their hair. If I understand
Treuer’s explanation correctly, they absorb
some of the grief, help the sufferers carry it.
Humans have found many ways of offer-
ing consolation, but I find myself wishing
these ceremonies were common in my own
culture. Imagine if we could wash away each
other’s tears. Even on Sept. 11, 2001, Treuer
says, when he burst into a room with the news
that something terrible had happened, almost
immediately a drum appeared.
Sometimes what we need even in the
midst of pain is laughter. If that sounds good
to you, I recommend “Ted Lasso,” which
you can find on Apple TV. It’s a story about
kindness, believe it or not. Well, and soccer.
Or “football” as the Richmond Greyhounds
would insist we say. And yes, it’s also about
grief and dealing with grief. But even the
toughest footballer of them all, the great,
growling Roy Kent, is kind. “Kind but not
nice,” fans joke.
I don’t drink coffee, so it’s easy for me to
say — but for the price of a latte, you too can
watch Ted Lasso and find the comfort of a
kindness that’s deeper than nice.
Friends, of course, help us bear our griefs.
Friends and family and, yes, poets. They
help us look straight on at even the most
difficult things, help us face them, absorb
them, take them into our own bodies. They
help us learn to survive being human.
How many of us have turned to Mary
Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese”? “You do not
have to be good / You do not have to walk
on your knees / for a hundred miles through
the desert repenting … Tell me about
despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.” Or
W. H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939,” when
he acknowledges that “we must love one
another or die” and tries to “show an affirm-
ing flame.” Even the title of Adam Zagajew-
ski’s poem in the New Yorker’s first issue
after the 9/11 attacks — “Try to Praise the
Mutilated World” — was a gift.
Whatever stories you have been turn-
ing to this month, I’m guessing that the
words heard most often at Big Drum —
wiidookodaadidaa, “let’s help each other”
and zhawendidaa,“let’s care for each other”
— apply. And let’s wish each other well,
because as the Ojibway and Dakota people
have learned, it takes a special kind of cour-
age to be kind.
———
Bette Husted is a writer and a student of
tai chi and the natural world. She lives in
Pendleton.
What’s in store for the 2021
school year and beyond
DIRK
DIRKSEN
OTHER VIEWS
E
ducation is all about taking the long
view.
The school-age years go by
quickly, but the lessons, skills and confidence
students learn will last for a lifetime. The
Morrow County School District has not only
the responsibility, but the honor to play a role
in those important developmental years.
As we head back to the classroom this
fall, we’re keeping those long-term invest-
ments in mind.
Our mission is to make the most of this
time for students in the classroom, on the
field of competition, at concerts and perfor-
mances, out in our communities and every-
where else they’re learning and growing.
We carefully plan to put our financial
resources to their best use year by year and
over the long-term, considering the impact of
every dollar we spend and looking to invest
in Morrow County’s young people — our
future.
One way we help students prepare for
that future is by giving them the educa-
tional tools to focus on science, technology,
engineering, mathematics, arts and music
through STEM and STEAM programs.
We’re finding these opportunities often spark
the interest of students who otherwise might
not be engaged with their education, helping
them explore possible careers and lifelong
passions.
Through a $868,000 Wheatridge Renew-
able Energy Facility grant, each community
and school will receive dedicated funding for
specifically tailored staff and programs. In
2021, this will fund science, technology and
music teachers throughout the district as well
as facility renovations to create the best use
of the space we have.
We are also doing a careful review of all
our current facilities to ensure we are antic-
ipating repairs as we care for these commu-
nity resources. Maintenance costs have the
potential of eating into a school district’s
budget if problems aren’t addressed, and
ongoing costs caused by a leaky roof, aged
HVAC system, or other inefficiency aren’t a
good use of those dollars.
Our school buildings play a vital role in
each of our communities, and we want to
make sure they continue to function at their
best for years to come.
Health and safety have become a growing
concern in schools, and we’re able to address
a wide range of needs through our wellness
hub partners. These services include CARE
coordinators, nurses, mental and oral health
professionals, resource officers and work-
force coordinators.
For every $1 the school district invests in
our students’ health and safety, our partner
agencies pitch in $1.13. Like all our invest-
ments, the health and safety of our students is
a fundamental building block of a successful
life after graduation.
It can be easy to get caught up in the
immediate challenges, and there are more
than a few to start this school year. But as
we work through them, we’re keeping our
eyes on the end goal and what’s best for our
students and communities.
Making the right investments today will
pay big dividends in the future.
———
Dirk Dirksen is Morrow County School
District’s superintendent.
Don’t skip teaching an essential life skill
and when faced with unplanned or free time,
we hear, “I have nothing to do, I’m bored.”
Providing a “downtime” where a child has
SCOTT
to spend time on their own is not free time for
SMITH
the parents at first. Learning not to be bored
EDUCATION CONNECTION
is a process and takes time. You cannot start
with 60 minutes of “downtime.” You have to
build up to 60 minutes. Start with 10 minutes
e all have busy lives filled with
and provide a couple of choices, such as read-
activities from the moment we
ing a book or drawing a picture. When you
wake up until our head hits the
hear those beautiful words, “I’M DONE!”
bed. Yet quite often, at some point in the day,
All you have to say is, “You still have more
you might hear “I’m bored” or “I don’t have
time to choose something else.” This is where
anything to do” from one of your kids. Some
the learning takes place, so be ready for the
child-development specialists say we often
pushback. Stick to the 10 minutes. After a
fail to teach our children one important life
skill, dealing with boredom. In addition, chil- bit, you’ll be able to increase by five-minute
intervals. Just as you cannot run a marathon
dren’s days are filled with activities planned
the first time out and must build your endur-
by others and can find it difficult to direct
ance, the same is true in learning how to deal
themselves to an activity of their own inter-
with boredom. By providing your child with
ests.
downtime, you can teach them how to engage
In her research, Sandi Mann from the
in activities independently and not depend on
University of Central Lancashire looked at
others to create activities for them.
what we often associate with boredom, lack
Some schools have cut their recess times
of something to do. When we view boredom
from this lens, it allows children to depend on during the school day because of the demands
on instructional time and to avoid dealing with
others for their activities, and restricts their
student misbehavior. They found that cutting
creativity. This is not just at home but in our
educational system as well. Our schools have recess time cuts down students’ misbehav-
iors, yet is that best for them? Instead of using
cut recess times for students greatly over the
past 20 decades. This has impacted children’s this time as a teaching/developmental time,
schools shorten the time to run and play, short-
abilities to develop friendships, work with
ening the time to practice these developmental
others, and create activities with others inde-
skills.
pendently.
We so often assume children can use free
Who would have ever thought making
time for productive things when it is a skill
sure that our kids always had activities and
events to attend or do might be harming them? that parents and teachers need to foster. Take
the time to guide children out of boredom and
Developing and learning how to create their
model and share what you are doing during
own interests and fill their downtime is a life
skill we expect our children to execute. Yet, as your downtime.
———
adults, we often experience frustration when
Scott Smith is a 40-plus year Umatilla
our children face downtime. The child hasn’t
County educator and serves on the Decod-
learned or developed the skills to fill this
ing Dyslexia Oregon board as its parent/
unknown time. Instead, they become depen-
dent on others to fill their day with activities,
teacher liaison.
W
Oregon committee is creating
a single-payer health system
CHUCK
SHEKETOFF
OTHER VIEWS
I
am one of 13 gubernatorial appoin-
tees and voting members of the Joint
Task Force on Universal Health Care
created by the 2019 Legislature. In June,
we released a status report presenting our
current thinking on the design of a univer-
sal health care system. Our proposal is a
work in progress, not final.
Our plan will not be “Medicare for all.”
Medicare requires premiums, co-pays and
private insurance companies for supple-
mental or advantage plans. In contrast, we
propose a single-payer plan. A new public
corporation would be created to bear the
financial risk that insurance companies and
self-insured businesses carry today.
Our plan could “help fix some problems
by making health care accessible to more
people and more equitable.” And there’s
ample room for cost control and lower
administrative costs.
A new health care system will indeed
make Oregonians “happier and healthier”
by improving quality of care.
A major challenge is improving how we
access health care, especially “uncoupling
health insurance from employment.” And,
our plan will ultimately need support from
the public, our businesses and the Legisla-
ture.
In Oregon today about half of private
insurance is purchased through employers.
The Legislature rightly considers the cost
of employer-provided health insurance as
both tax free income to employees and a
deductible expense for the employer.
That deduction, not available to Orego-
nians buying individual policies, coupled
with the tax break for employees, rein-
forces our dependence on employer-pro-
vided insurance. We want to equalize
access to health care with a different
method of payment: progressive fees and
taxes providing health care access to every-
one regardless of employer. Our task force
is confident that the new payroll fee to fund
health care will be less than the cost of
employer-provided insurance. We expect
Oregon families will welcome a plan that is
not tied to their employer; that eliminates
premiums, co-pays and deductibles; and
that ends battles with insurance companies
to approve a provider or benefit.
Employer-provided insurance hurts
Oregon’s economy. The employees receive
lower pay and the impact on pay is regres-
sive: Employer- provided insurance premi-
ums take a bigger share of income from
lower paid employees than from higher
paid employees.
Our approach, which is still evolving,
favors a moderately progressive payroll-
based fee, meaning less impact on employ-
ees receiving lower pay. Like the insurance
premiums that employers currently pay,
a payroll health care fee would be a tax
deductible business expense.
However, because a payroll health care
fee will be less than the insurance premi-
ums most employers pay today, our plan
will improve profitability, pay and benefits
to workers, or both.
Today, all families and individuals pay
at least something for health care, even
those Oregonians with limited income
who seek alternative care not provided
by the Oregon Health Plan. Under our
plan, funded by progressive taxes, Oregon
families won’t have premiums, co-pays or
deductibles.
Our task force is committed to ensur-
ing that any new taxes will be less than
what Oregonians currently pay for insur-
ance, co-pays, deductibles and noncovered
services.
Consistent with our legislative charge,
we created a consumer advisory commit-
tee with representatives from a wide array
of Oregon communities and interests. We
encourage public testimony at our open
meetings. We listen to all contributions and
have included them in our planning. With
bipartisan support, the 2021 Legislature
extended our timeline to present a plan.
This renewal of our charge provides funds
for even more rigorous engagement with
the people, organizations and businesses
that our task force needs to honor.
We hope your readers will consider
contributing their ideas to our critical work.
Vibrant public participation will help create
a health care system that is universal and
that answers the needs of all Oregon fami-
lies and businesses.
———
Chuck Sheketoff submitted this piece on
behalf of the voting members of the Task
Force on Universal Health Care. Readers
can get involved and follow the task force’s
work at bit.ly/JTFUHC21.