Be your best self! We’re less than two weeks away from welcoming well over 23K students into our buildings and they deserve our A game.
Back in December I wrote about Jim Valvano, aka Jimmy V, and shared his 1993 acceptance speech as he received the sports world’s pinnacle award for perseverance. Jimmy V was a sports guy through and through and in his later years held seat next to Dick Vitale as they arguably were the dynamic duo covering college basketball. Jimmy V succumbed to cancer shortly after his acceptance speech in 1993 and in a bit of discouraging irony Dick Vitale was just honored with the same award for his lifetime accomplishments including his own battle with cancer. If you have some time, watch this clip. During his speech, Vitale asked all those that had been personally impacted by cancer to stand up and it became a standing room only. He ends his speech with this gem of inspiration:
“Perseverance plus Passion plus Pride equals Winning.”
He was a 6th grade teacher in 1970 and then coaching in the NBA in 1978. As a bit of sidebar, Dick Vitale’s speech delivered during his induction into the basketball hall of fame is also a game changer – I promise you’ll be inspired if you watch it. And if you missed the original Jimmy V clip, check it out as well. Dick Vitale makes frequent reference to his wife Lorraine, a redhead, and for readers of this blog my world is also anchored by a strong redhead (officially 25 years come Tuesday).
I ordered a cookbook recently entitled Plated Stories – it arrived this past week and I took some time to review.
I came across the cookbook after reading this article – I was curious enough so I emailed the lead creator and she promptly responded back to my pleasant surprise. We had a couple of exchanges and then I started to process the magnitude of this simple collection. The book represents more story than seasoning or spice and it hopefully generates some questions. If you read through the contents, you meet doctors now working convenience stores, dentists working Uber, and countless other skilled individuals underemployed. For those who “made it” elsewhere the foundation proved too unstable. But the narration, if you give it a chance, personalizes the stories in a way you feel connected in human kindness, or maybe simply as kindred spirits.
My oldest and I often engage in a debate that Plato already weighed in on – “those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.” These debates often end unresolved and I imagine some of the individuals profiled in Plated Stories can relate. But another Plato quote I find comfort and strength in is:
“There is no harm in repeating a good thing.”
This school year, like all school years, we need our teachers to bring their very best. In turn, we need to honor their work. As an insider, I’m amazed at how much time they spend preparing for their students long before that first day and subsequently the continuous support that follows. They might not give their best selves all the time but they give the best of themselves at any given moment.
What if? Why Not? 