My wife and I had dinner with some dear friends of ours this weekend and it reminded me how much we’ve socially distanced in the past year. It was a great evening for retelling the countless times of memories of mishaps we’ve had as friends. It was a time for us to candidly say right now doesn’t feel like the best of times and maybe we’re more appreciative and optimistic on what lies ahead.
We’re entering our final week of this school year and it will be eventful I’m sure. This past week has shown the exhaustion mixed with exacerbation. Kids are tired, parents are tired, teachers are tired, all of us are tired. I had a recent conversation with another individual about all of this and he argued life is about overcoming hardships.
What a year?! 10 months with masks 7+ hours a day. Or no masks and Zooming remotely. I wonder if our elders think we’re tough enough based on our response and what they’ve previously faced. Captured below is a note from one of my children’s teachers which reminds me educators have not wavered from their calling.
“In the next twenty-four hours you are all going to have an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of history. When I was a young teacher, the night before the exam, I worried that I had not prepared my students and that there is some aspect of the course I left out. But now that I am in my prime, I don’t worry about that anymore; instead I worry that I haven’t taught you to be a critical thinker and analytical writer. I worry that I haven’t encouraged you to develop empathy, compassion and understanding. I worry that you will go to college for career training rather than to hone your analytical skills. This class was never about me teaching you the course content; you could have all taught yourself everything you need to know. My goal was really quite simply to provide a venue for you to improve your critical thinking skills and for me have a place where I got to talk about history with curious students.”
He ends the note with one final thought – “I believe you and your knowledge and skills will win the day.”
This morning I read this article about chance encounters – an Uber rider forms a special bond with his driver and pushes her to go back to school and get her degree. She does, with his help, and it’s another reminder of what a difference any of us can make when we take time to listen to one another. Teachers have definitely tapped the brakes and intentionally slowed down this year to make sure their kids were accounted for. Sometimes you just have to slow down before you can speed up. I’m thankful for all the school folks who made sure my own kids’ needs were met this year while doing the same for all their other students. In that respect, it was business as usual I suppose. As they say where I come from, laissez les bon temps rouler!
What if? Why Not? 