Introduceyourself .... "I am not a number"

This is a case of the shoe being on the other foot. As an online teacher I ask new students to introduce themselves all the time …. Now I guess it is my turn.

This is me! (Photo courtesy of hubby)

Despite being a teacher I am not institutionalized. I abhor being told what I should think or how I should live. Yesterday one of my students told me she loved my classes because I had opinions. I think everyone should have and share opinions and ideas. I encourage my children and students to question everything. ‘Why?’ should be the most important word in the English language, but too often the word heard by people, especially the young, is ‘no’.

I wasn’t always a teacher. I used to work in the financial sector, an experience which certainly educated me, but also left me even more suspicious and skeptical than I was before. I look at the world and wonder how it can keep going. I don’t need my degree in Maths to understand global debt, I don’t need my skills as an English teacher to read Zero Hedge and wonder when Armageddon will hit. As a human being, a wife and mother I definitely need and rely on hope to get me from one day to the next.

My husband, an artist, and I try to show the true gems of our lives, our sons, how to live. Not always easy on our shoestring budget, but a challenge worth embracing.

I believe that we must take control of our future. We have to use our imagination to create a world which is actually acceptable to the majority and not just a playground for the minority. I adore the idea of a universal basic income and the freedom it gives people to find a better way to live. I don’t think anyone should live in the shadow of poverty or the fear of homelessness.

Perhaps some would call me radical or insane. If I had to choose three adjectives of myself they would be: curious, caring and idealistic.

I hope to use steemit to discover ideas and views from around the world, to debate both the radical and traditional. I guess I am looking for an honest community of thinkers.