A bit of wisdom about a sense of idealism...
Some really terrific wisdom from Katherine Shelly (is that right?), today...
SBPBJ at http://katherineshelly.blogspot.com/
She writes...
"My boyfriend is a first-year special ed teacher in an inner city school. I can really relate to what you're saying from his stories. Yes, society does screw us three ways from Sunday and expect us to fix everything they're too lazy or scared to deal with.
Still... teaching isn't just a job. You and I and everyone else who's ever been in a classroom know that. Teaching is love in action. There's a little secret that we need to share with all first year teachers, though. I'm in my ninth year teaching, and I still sometimes have trouble remembering this.
See... thing about teaching is our enthusiasm is cyclical. We start the year with hopes and dreams in the sky, ready to take on every challenge. "Give me the tough, the abandoned, the disenfranchised, angry and mean, and I will not only love them, I will educate them, by God, for I am a Teacher!" By the end of January, we've had our share of pain and disappointment. We have a long time to wait for the next break, and we need to recharge our batteries.
My recommendation: spend a minute or two every day until Spring Break reading an inspirational teaching book, teaching quotes, or just remembering why you're in this godforsaken profession. ;)
Don't leave us... the world needs more brilliant and caring teachers. *hugs* It -does- get better.:):):)"
As she wrote that...
It suddenly occurred to me why this disappointment has been cyclical, as she says, for me, as much as the cycle she's talking about that I'm totally relating to of coming back post-holiday with high expectations only to have them come head-on with the realities and disappointments of kids and other folks having their sights set far too low...
Because...as Katherine says...
"We start the year with hopes and dreams in the sky, ready to take on every challenge. "Give me the tough, the abandoned, the disenfranchised, angry and mean, and I will not only love them, I will educate them, by God, for I am a Teacher!" By the end of January, we've had our share of pain and disappointment."
The larger issue, for me...is that our disappointment and heartache are so strong...because our hopes and dreams are so high-minded...
Meaning...we see where we and our kids...and in my case, at least...though I hope in all of our cases...people, generally...not just in schools...
We see where we could all be aspiring much higher...
How much better life would be for all of us, if we aspired higher...
And what a terrible disappointment we settle for when our aspirations are so low...
That's true of individuals...of individual kids...and even individual teachers...
And it's true of all of us...of humanity...
That when we aspire low...we only get as low as our aspirations take us...
When we aspire higher...
We get more...
But it's so damned disappointing and heartbreaking, in the meantime, while we fall short of higher aspirations...even if they are new expectations whole-cloth...to resolve seemlingly intractable problems...as many of the best ideas aspire to do...
And just as with kids...
We have to learn to ride out the disappointment and heartbreak...as people choose low aspirations...even when higher aspirations would improve life...for all of us...
It's a brilliant insight...
That I've been needing for quite some time, now...
I'm sure some of my friends, Katherine, would say that I've been needing that insight for years...
I'm sure they've gotten tired of me sounding like the sky is falling...
When the truth is...
That the horizon is expanding...
If only we could only see its breadth:):):)...
Thanks so much, Katherine:):):)...
It's a very insightful piece of wisdom:):):)...
And it made a lot of difference for my outlook, today...and, I hope, for some time after today:):)...
Thank you, Katherine...I think you just helped me see why, maybe, so many people lost track of their idealism...because, like me, they get lost in their heartache about the disappointment that the world seems to be compared to their loftier dreams...rather than, as you've help do for me, just get some perspective on those dreams and the world that still needs to live into them...
Hope everyone else appreciates just how important that little piece of wisdom is, too:):)...
I've got to get home, work on an I.E.P. (Individualized Education Plan), and get some sleep:):):)...
Have a great week, everyone:):):)...
Love,
Ben
