It’s just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed….

I know, that’s a fragment of song lyric ripped from the Eagles tune, Learn To Be Still.  Waking this morning, I felt existentially disoriented.  As expected there was little “good news” in The New York Times, The Morning update received via email.  Of course receiving a huge philanthropic gift was helpful for the list of community college recipients, — but that does not erase the yawning chasm of disparity in funding between the colleges that primarily serve students from lower class families, and Ivy League schools.  I read the article feeling more depressed than usual.  The Times wrote:

Want to guess how much money Ivy League colleges spend on education per student each year? About $100,000 on average, according to a report by Third Way. Elite public universities often spend more than $30,000

West Kentucky spends $7,200 annually per student on education — money that needs to cover the salaries of professors and support staff, as well as labs and other educational resources. Alcorn State (in Mississippi) and Santa Fe (in Florida) each spend less than $14,000. So does Borough of Manhattan Community College, in New York.

There can be no more concrete evidence of the racist American status quo,  from policy to inclination, in the early 21st century than this.  The well-born, the fortunate, bask in the abundance afforded by a host of advantages, and the rest, well they make do with the crumbs of largess from the uber-wealthy.

To read the entire New York Times article The Least For Those Who Need It Most, click here.

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I can think of no better tune than this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnYzaIM3AOQ

Learn To Be Still

By The Eagles

It’s just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You’d give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head

You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will
Learn to be still

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don’t know how to be alone
So we wander ’round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home

But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell
Learn to be still

Learn to be still

Now the flowers in your garden
They don’t smell so sweet
Maybe you’ve forgotten
The heaven lying at your feet

There are so many contradictions
In all these messages we send
We keep asking, “How do I get out of here?
Where do I fit in?”

Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin’
It’s waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will
Learn to be still

Learn to be still

You just keep on runnin’
Keep on runnin’