Savior comes in the form of literacy

Every now and again I am reminded of how incredibly fortunate we are. Not only do we take for granted our abundance — over-stocked grocery stores, warm homes, running water, paved roads — we dismiss the fact that literacy is a hallmark for peace.

The International Vision of Humanity group uses research and analysis to determine the infrastructures needed for a peaceful society, i.e. the number of jailed citizens vs. the level of education.

Consider Haiti for a moment. Using the Vision of Humanity’s peaceful world index, Haiti ranks 116 out of 140 countries. (The United States ranks 83rd in the peaceful world index.)

Less than one out every two Haitians can read and write. The average Haitian attends just 2.8 years of school. In contrast, 99 percent of Americans are literate and attend 15.7 years of school.

But, it was the picture of dirt cookies that jerked me. A Haitian woman was patting thin cookies out of vegetable shortening, salt and dirt to dry in the sun — a treat for the poor even before the Jan. 12 earthquake.

She patted dirt cookies while I wondered which cereal on sale to buy.

She dried dirt cookies while I read about the former president of the Mat-Su School Board, now a Borough Assemblyman, bullying the School District in a regular Hatfield and McCoy feud.

While I took a hot shower, drank coffee, listened to the news, then pushed a button for my electric garage door and rolled out pounds and pounds of garbage for a stranger to make disappear, a woman in Haiti dried dirt cookies on the sidewalk to sell as a treat.

Something was dreadfully wrong with this picture.

Certainly, I could give money to the Haitian relief effort. In a myriad of ways I could give without ever stopping to consider that Haiti wasn’t safe or secure before their buildings collapsed. I could easily give so the woman selling dirt cookies could eat. But, it doesn’t seem enough when I know that unless she was also literate, she was still not safe.

Unfortunately, my agitation sneaked its way into my classroom of 12-year-olds, who could not possibly understand the phenomenon that they were eating bagels instead of dirt cookies. I sternly admonished them to pay attention, get to work, stop talking and be nice for heaven’s sake. Why, they must have wanted to ask, this new found sense of urgency?

You have to be able to read, write, think, I shouted to no one in particular. You must be able to vote in the good people, vote out the bad, earn a living and be a decent fellow in a very un-decent world. You need to be still OK if your world shakes apart … because I know the only thing separating you from dirt cookies — aside from the grace of God — is literacy.

“It is the best thing I can give you, that’s why,” I said to the woman with the dirt cookies.

Emily Forstner is a teacher at Wasilla Middle School.