Each Year A New Opportunity

Throughout the school year I write a monthly article for the Marion City Schools Community Paper. It must be getting close to the start of a new school year. I received a message yesterday asking me to have my August article ready. I thought I would share this with you. I hope you enjoy. Please always read everything I write with an open mind. Feel free to respond. And please always feel free to pass on and share with others what I write. Thanks!

August is here! Summer vacation is wrapping up. Shortly school will be back in session. A new school year filled with anticipation and hope. From many different perspectives, this school year takes on a meaning all its own.

There will be the young child beginning his or her schooling in kindergarten. Full of the unknown, the awe, the mystery of what this “schooling” thing is all about. There will be the aged, veteran student of 12 or so years ready to begin and finish that final year. So much joy, excitement, and anticipation, but also the similar unknown, awe, and mystery experienced just over a decade ago. To earn the right of being called a “graduate” carries many emotions.

In our school system there will be first year teachers embarking on a career they have prepared for and will hopefully be dedicated to for the next 30 plus years. This too carries the unknown, awe, and mystery. And there will be the sage-educator having devoted a lifetime to making a difference that will say good-bye to this fulfilling career after 30 plus years. This too introduces the unknown, awe, and mystery. To earn the right to be called "retired" carries emotions.

Within these opposites there are and will be so many stories to unfold. Each year brings so many new opportunities founded in the fresh start of a new school year.

Challenges we will also encounter as we progress through this year. Challenges I believe are good. They always reveal something new. However, there is also a better way to face and deal with these challenges.

Many years ago a young student of mine, Steve Stoner shared with me a personal belief. He said, “I never wake up looking at the challenges I face, rather I look at the opportunities that face me.” Now for those of you who do not know Steve, he was born with cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair his entire life.

What an amazing, positive outlook we can all take from this! When we face challenges, may we look at each of them as an opportunity to serve, to assist, to challenge, and to better the lives of our students, their parents, and each of us.

In The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, reflecting on teaching he writes,

“No man can reveal who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom, but rather of his faith and lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter his house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measures, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.”

Each year a new opportunity! What more can we ask for other than the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students and in the lives of ourselves!

To all of us regardless of where we may be on our journey this school year, may we be fulfilled and enriched beyond what can be imagined! 

To be led "to the threshold" of our own mind. Now that is pretty special!