"I don't know how you attend to all those students as you say you
do. I wish
I could, but I just don't have the time for them," a professor wrote me in
response to the
words I've written since my return from China a little more than ten days ago.
"For what do you have time? For what do you make the time?" I
asked in reply.
Silence all this past week. Maybe he went off somewhere for a
while as I am
reluctantly doing literally in a couple of hours for a two week romp through
the mid-west
this morning. But, four of her words have been haunting me: "don't have the
time." How
many times have I heard and read this limiting and lamenting phrase. How many
times did I
use those excusing words until I banned them from my vocabulary almost fifteen
years ago?
So many of us find the time for pursuing that higher degree, for research and
publication,
for pursuit of grants and presenting at conferences, for doing whatever it
takes to get
tenure, for that promotion, for that appointment, and/or for that raise. But,
when it
comes to caring about those individual human beings we lumped together in that
stereotyping word, "students," well ...
So, let me shoot and run, and ask all who would utter these words
and would
have let them shackle your attitudes and actions, you're telling this to a
cancer survivor
who knows that this precious "now" is the only time he has to do something
significant?
You don't have the time to fill the seconds with all the good an uplifting,
supporting,
and encouraging word or a simple smile, or an acknowledging "hello" can do?
You don't
have time to fill the minutes with empathy, kindness, and love? You don't have
time to
fill the hours with your truest meaning and deepest purpose of service? You
don't have
the time to fill the days with imagination, awareness, attentiveness,
creativity,
goodness, and joy? You don't have the time to reflect upon and articulate a
personal
vision? You don't have the time to make your efforts follow your vision? You
don't have
the time to make a difference in someone's life? You don't have the time to
leave behind
a valuable and significant life?
I am a cancer survivor. I have learned that it is I who has the
time; it is I
who finds the time; it is I who makes the time. I learned that I decide how to
use each
minute; I decide how each moment begins, is filled, and ends. I decide how to
live, act,
think, feel, and experience that instant. You know my cancer made me take my
eyes farther
off the clock than I had and to look sharper at my personal vision of what I
and what I do
can be. It showed me that each moment is an intersection of my vision, my
experiences,
and my potential. That's what I call a "wow" revelation! It is amazing how
that
powerful combination casts aside excuses, cuts restraining manacles, energizes
each
moment, and puts my talents and abilities and blessings to work.
Trust me. If you take the time, make the time, for each student,
as Dr. Seuss
would say, oh, the places you'll go. You'll discover a whole new level of
possibilities;
you'll see in every direction magnificent opportunities; you'll find that
you'll transform
what might be limited plodding burden into a limitless enriching blessing; and,
more
important, you'll find out who you really are and can become; and, then, you'll
have a
timeless sense of fulfillment, accomplishment, significance, and joy.
No, it's not counting the minutes that matters; what matters is
what you put
into those minutes, what you do with, and how you live each present minute that
you live
that counts.
Does this sound like empty sermonizing? It's really fully
teaching--and
living!
See ya. Be back in a couple of weeks.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History www.newforums.com/L_Schmier.htm
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\____/\ \/\
/ \ \__ \/ /
\ /\/
\ \ /\
//\/\/ /\ \_ /
/___\/\ \ \
\/ \
/\"If you want to climb
mountains \ /\
_/ \ don't practice on mole
hills" -/
\
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