Invitation to Read Choices Together

I parked in the school lot on the first day of school, and no one was there. The gas light came on, and I thought, "You and me both." Then began a swirl of other thoughts, among them: 

My kid keeps waking up in the night. We can't keep living like this. 

I'm so upset about this school decision. I can't believe we're having the first day of school like this. 

I can't cut through all this rhetoric. I don't even understand my own point of view about this issue because I supported what Evers was trying to do, but I also support this lawsuit being filed to allow our school to open safely. 

I should have paid more attention in my philosophy and ethics classes in college, but I can't remember anything. I wish I knew more about argumentation and logic. I see all of these claims on Facebook, and they just don't seem right to me, but I can't explain why. 

People are making all kinds of claims and expecting me to be as outraged as that are about things that doesn't make sense and might not be true. 

The problem is that no one can agree on what is good. 

I jotted down these thoughts until they ran out, then went inside, still ruminating. 

Later that morning, I went to the mailroom to get some copies of schedules and started looking through a stack of teacher giveaway books. This book jumped out at me instantly. "This is the book I need to read right now!" 

If you find yourself wishing that you could think better about everything that's going on right now and some of the important decisions that are on the horizon for all of us-- Should I let my children go back to school? Should I go back into the office? Should my family get the vaccine when it becomes available and under what conditions? Who should I vote for and why?-- then please join me in reading this book! 

I believe this issue of learning how to think for ourselves, evaluate claims, and dismantle rhetoric is extremely important for the times we are living in. These are tools we must learn to use, and we must teach them to our children. 

I am beginning to read Choices this week, just one short chapter per week. It's a slim volume, only 121 pages and seven chapters. Next week on Thursday, I'll post a summary of the first chapter and anyone else reading along can contribute in the comments. 

Check your public library or order a copy of Choices on Amazon here. Let me know in the comments if you'll be reading along or if you've already read this book.