Dear OJMCHE Community,
The New Year holiday did not arrive with its customary festivities, its annual optimistic resolutions, or the general boost typically felt with the turn from December to January. Indeed the first 19 days of 2021 burst with unimaginable acts of insurrection, accelerating Covid-19 cases and deaths, and unprecedented capital punishment—a lugubrious list. Our powers to think positively have struggled to imagine a better world.
But as citizens of a functioning democracy, as parents, as educators, as members of a strong and united community—we have a responsibility to stay positive. And so at OJMCHE we expose the roots of hate, to be sure, but we also teach how to respond with values such as inclusion and respect. Over these past four years, we have faced dilemmas that have only deepened, as well as shocking new ones we never imagined. We have stood in solidarity with the best of our history, with our friends and colleagues, as well as fellow citizens who have been targeted with discrimination, violence, and even death. Our work remains to connect past to present and to participate in an inclusive, vibrant democracy built on understanding and embracing differences.
In this time we have also hosted a rainbow of public programs, exhibitions, and opportunities for educators that, we hope, helped to illuminate the way ahead. So much of this dimension of our work has been life-affirming and immensely gratifying. Our duty, our responsibility, is to move forward to improve the world. Reformation of this nation will take time, willpower, bravery, an open mind, and a commitment to the arc of justice. The turbulence of the past four years won’t end in a single day, or even 100 days, perhaps not even the entire year. Today is a beginning. Let’s look forward together.
Be well, stay hopeful,
Judy Margles, Director
OJMCHE