I wanted to walk in the depressing doldrums of darkness this morning after my
beloved Tarheels got unexpectedly whupped by Kansas last night in the Final Four. But, I
really couldn't. Pushing the image of that loss out of the forefront of my mind was a
powerful message I had received Friday from a first year student and about which I haven't
been able to stop thinking and feeling. It just wouldn't let my spirit be darkened and my
heart be dulled by anything. It put me on such a joyful high that nothing could really
drag me down. And, more importantly, it reminds me of what really is important in this
world and how important it is what we teachers do in the classroom:
"'Untie the knots in your 'cannot' and kick yourself in your 'can'!' Wow! Did
those Words
for the Day suddenly hit me in my can't and can yesterday. It started a couple of weeks
ago, I think, when you talked about the Words for the Day you wrote on the board: 'Don't
let can't stagnate into a won't and paralyze into a don't.' I always thought your every
day writings on the board were so sappy. Not now!! You know from my journal that I've
been feeling sorry for myself because of my ADHD. I read closely what you wrote back to
one entry. Remember? You told me that there was nothing to feel inferior about. You
said if I had a broken leg, there is nothing wrong with going to a doctor to get it reset
and so there nothing wrong with going to a doctor to help reset the chemical imbalance in
my brain. There's no difference. No one ever put it in that simple way before. I really
started to think about what you said that I shouldn't think of myself as a loser because
of my ADHD and because I'm on medication since I'm in college in spite of it and how
others, including teachers, treated me. When I read that Thursday, I realized for the
first time, really, for the first time, for the first time, FOR THE FIRST TIME (!!!!) how
far I came. I am smelling and hearing and feeling my dream, but until now I haven't really
realized it. I mean, coming from the fourth grader who was pulled out of advanced level
and plopped into the remedial grades was almost certain she wouldn't ever be anything
worth while. She was told over and over again that she was always going to be behind and
would never be able to catch up. Who was made to think she was a slave to a medicine that
seemed like no one else had to take. Then, you come along with your beliefs in me. Wow!
Double wow!! It was like a flash of light. What the heck to I have to feel sorry about?
I see that now I am a college student with a 3.0 GPA that will be better after this
semester and I am anything but behind. I'm not the loser like one teacher told me in high
school I should accept being because I would always be. I am here and I am now. I am
ahead of where I never thought I and that shit of a supposed teacher would be and I am not
going to stop. I am going to reach and make my arms stretch and reach when they ache and
it feels like they can't. My new world doesn't have can'ts and don'ts only cans and dos.
Why shouldn't it. I said can't to the Dr. Seuss book and did it. I said can't to writing
the song lyrics and singing in front of the class and did them. I said can't to the
sculpture and the film and did them, too. You told the class that was important was not
that we did the projects and learned the material by doing them, but what doing the
projects said to us about us. It says to me that I CAN DO anything I want. I've done a
ton of things in this class I thought I can't do and did. I wanna go to law school. I
wanna be a justice on the supreme court! I will stop at nothing to get it. My friends
always laugh at that. My parents always laugh at me. My high school teachers would
snicker when they thought I wasn't looking. I know you're not doing any of that, and now
neither am I. I am as serious as can be. After all didn't you also write on the board,
"If you want to do it, it can be done; and, since it can be done, do whatever it legally
and morally takes to do it?" I AM NOT SETTLING ANY MORE! I am not going to settle for
second best. I am going only settle for my giving every thing everything I've got,
whatever that is. I am making a check list of things I have to do to get to what I want
to go and won't stop until everything is checked off and I am there. I don't have to
prove anything to anyone except myself. I think I realized all this yesterday after I was
talking to Jane (not her real name) about doing the film and she settles because she, too,
is ADHD and is still listening to the same kind of limiting voices I was. You know, I
thought I was looking in a mirror and thought I was talking with myself. And I see so
much potential in her....I KNOW she CAN DO anything she wants! I've got to help her see
in her what I see just as you helped me see in me what you see. Seeing is believing and
having faith and hope in yourself--and finally loving yourself--isn't it? :)"
Richard Deming once said, "We here to make another world." With that clear vision
planted in a firm commitment and dedication to living that purpose every day, we each can
do that in the world of the classroom. Don't ever forget that each moment in that
classroom contains a vast array of possibilities; each moment contains innumerable
opportunities to be a difference; each moment contains untold chances to touch someone, to
change the world, to alter the future, and to make another world. What could be more
magical, more exquisite, more profound, more fulfilling, more inspiring, more satisfying,
more humbling, and more miraculous than that when it happens?
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier http://therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/
Department of History http://www.newforums.com/Auth_L_Schmier.asp
Valdosta State University www. halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\
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//\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\ \_/__\
/\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole hills" -
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