The Post

March 21, 2005

I can still recall the crispness of the flags cracking in the Santa Ana winds as I crossed the street to the post office. Inside I would take a number and watch the people mailing tubes, parcels, and bills to all the remote and mundane places that make up everywhere else. When my number was called I wouldn't mail anything at all. I wanted to know about field trips and tours of the facility. I wanted to know that I'd get support in sharing the local things— the infrastructure of the present place. That is what civics education should be about; the awakening of awe towards the complexity of that which we take for granted. That, and a sense of responsibility for it all.