Phrase of the day

  "Teachable moment." 

             Definition: a moment of educational opportunity: a time at which a person, especially a child, is likely to be particularly disposed to learn something or particularly responsive to being taught or made aware of something.

             In July 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his home; the incident garnered media attention throughout the United States. The mayor of Cambridge, E. Denise Simmons, said that she hoped that the result would be a "teachable moment". U.S. President Barack Obama expressed the same hope as Simmons:

             "My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a "teachable moment", where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity." Obama's use of the phrase attracted considerable comment in the American media and blogosphere.
              Gates himself echoed the same theme, stating, "I told the President that my entire career as an educator has been devoted to racial healing and improved race relations in this country. I am determined that this be a teaching moment."     ---courtesy wikipedia


                 The security guard who stopped me when I left work yesterday (because a white woman reported that a black man was in the building last week and he looked suspicious)  will be having a teachable moment, soon.