Thursday, November 13, 2008

Letting Go

There are days when teaching is thankless.

I mean to work.
I intend to educate.
I hope to inspire.
I hope to encourage.
I hope to motivate.

But there are no guarantees that everyone will take the bait, or accept the gift.

The hardest thing is to watch people fail.
There is no Schaudenfreude in education.
Because at the end of the day,
After all the teaching and trying,
After the inspiration and encouragement and motivational gymnastics
It's not up to me anymore.
I have to let go and see what happens.

And if they fall, I have to be strong and wait.

They have to choose to pick themselves back up again.
They have to accept responsibility for what went wrong.
They have to make changes so it doesn't happen again.

And if they make that choice...
If they brush themselves off
If they decide to try again
Then I'll be there

To work
To educate
To inspire
To encourage
To motivate

And to breathe deeply, cross my fingers and let go all over again.

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