The Little Things in Life

After a poor attempt at making Pad Thai (my roommate Lauren is going to have to school me in how to make it... her absence tonight is what I attribute to my failure!), I tried to redeem myself in an attempt to be productive. I gathered up the clothes that were starting to overflow from my laundry basket and made my way to the washer. I sorted, loaded, and started the process of cleaning my clothing.

As I continued the process of laundry, folding my clothes on top of the dryer, I found myself thinking back on the school day. My students and I are studying WWII in Europe, and we finished watching an educational film on the Holocaust. Even though I have read, studied, and seen films on the subject, I am still left with the deepest sense of disturbance in my heart. The kids and I watched a recount of how when the British soldiers arrived at Bergen-Belson, they discovered that the Germans had cut the water lines and the prisoners had been without water for almost a week. In a matter of hours, the Brits had patched the water lines and people were finally able to drink and wash.

There was a clip of a woman washing a piece of clothing. That image replayed in my mind as I continued to fold. She stood outside over a faucet and scrubbed the cloth with her hands. I stood in my utility room beside my washer and dryer and played origami with different styled shirts.

How easy it is to take for granted the little things in life. Little things like running water, the opportunity and option to wash my clothes and have them cleaned with detergent with minimal effort. How often do I think, Gee, I sure am lucky to get to do my laundry! Uh... I'm usually cursing under my breath over the fact that there aren't any more socks in my drawer and I'm forced to do something about it...

But it's not just laundry, it's other things too... like having a warm house, a kitchen to cook in, a bed and room that's my own. How is it that I hardly ever take the time to marvel over all that I have been given?

I want to be the kind of person who stops and takes notice of these things, the little things in life. I want to live a life of realization that I am surrounded by a richness that far too few have been given the opportunity to experience. I want to walk in wonder, and pause in response.

It is a challenge to not become jaded by the monotony of life's seemingly stolid pace, but rather to take in its marvelousness and put on an attitude of gratitude. When this happens, you see more... you hear more... and life ceases to seem dull and mundane.

The little things in life. They're what make it worth living.

The Choice is Yours...

Teachers are awful.

Ok, so that's a bit strong, let me try again. Teachers are awful at some things, like practicing what we preach.

Each morning at my school we hear the phrase, "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours." and we deep down inside hope that the kids hear that, understand the message, and apply the principle: think about your actions and words, how they effect you and others, and choose to do what is good and right because it's the right thing to do.

Do you know how awful I am at doing this?

It's so easy for me to look at the day once the kids have finally packed up their bags and made their way down to the buses and think about all the crappy stuff that happened. How so-and-so didn't complete his or her work, or how they talked back, put forth such little effort, and trust me the list goes on and on. As easy as it is to simply think these things, it's even easier for me to complain to anyone around about all the things that went wrong in the day.

Now, I'm not saying that you should keep all of these frustrations pent up inside and not share them. It's important to be able to be honest with yourself and to avoid telling everyone you see that life is just fine. But it's equally important to gauge how much of what comes out of your mouth is negative versus positive.

Why is it that finding the positive is so stinkin' hard?

Teachers (ok, not just teachers, but since I am one and work with a bunch of them, this is the group I'm going to pick on) are faced with the dilemma of finding the positive, and choosing to do so, on a daily basis. What makes the situation even harder for teachers is that we are all too willing to feed off of each other's frustrations, add our own, and sometimes even try to compete with each other in how crappy a student or class we have in our rooms this day or year.

Why is it that by talking about the negative stuff provides such a good conversation piece, whereas talking about the positive doesn't ever last very long?

I find that a lot of times, the conversations I have with anyone who will listen about my day very similar to watching more than an hour of the news. Eventually all the stories sound the same, and none of them are all that great. In fact the most interesting ones are usually the most depressing ones. I get frustrated with the news casters and often find myself yelling at them, tell me some good news!

The choice is theirs after all... they're the ones who get to decide what to talk about.

The choice is theirs...

The choice is mine.

The choice is yours.