Brrrrr! Bundling up time. Went out at 5:00 am. It was in the
very low 30s. Yet, it was dark outside, but I felt a light inside. The outer
chill, which I really didn't notice, was countered by inner warmth on which I
was concentrating. You see, this morning I went on a pilgrimage that was
deeper than usual. Now, I believe that my entire life a pilgrimage, a journey
of great spiritual, moral, personal and professional significance. My simple
walks on the streets and inside myself are anything but simple. They're
significant micro-journies that are a part of that macro-journey. I walk with
the intense, meditative intention of encountering meaning, with quests for new
awarenesses of possibilities, with an openness to new wonders, with an
acceptance to the mystery ahead of me. As I walk, I always feel the movements
of my body, the swing of my arms, the gait of my legs, the expansion and
contraction of my chest, the sounds of my breathing; I am sensitive the sounds
and movements, and sometimes the smell, of things surrounding me. This
morning, as I was dancing with the landscape, I felt a particularly deep
feeling of gratitude. I was thinking about a message I had received last week
from a student who was part of my experiment in the Holocaust class last
semester. She had written: "This may sound weird but the class made me
sentitive more than I thought. I just wanted to write to let you know of the
impact the Holocaust class had on me….over the break we went to Jacksonville to
meet some family for lunch at the Contemporary Art Museum. While touring the
musuem I saw a drawing/painting of the Holocaust. As I was taking a picture my
10 year old niece wanted to know why I was taking a picture of it. She did not
think it was pretty. She then noticed the shoes in the painting. She asked why
are there shoes and an oven? Anyway,it became a teachable moment for me
whereas before the class I would have looked at it withoout really stopping to
notice much less taking almost a half hour to explain and point out the meaning
of things in the painting to my niece. So your class has reached others who are
not even college age."
I came back from my walk during which I compose a fictitious
conversation with an imaginary colleague. It is really a dialogue with myself,
a renewal of my vows. It goes like this:
"You just talk of it being enough to just touch one student, but I
can't believe that does much. It is only one UPS driver."
"It did a heck of a lot for him."
"I don't believe it's worth all my time and effort. You're advocating
inefficiency."
"As Yoda might say, 'And that is why you can't.' I'm advocating
effectiveness. Look, negative thoughts and assumptions drive negative
experiences, positive ones drive positive experiences. Depends on what you're
looking for. Assumptions guide your perceptions, and your perceptions
determine the way you respond to each situation and person. You just have to
have an intense awareness to make sure those assumptions are not working
against you and others. Get a new set of assumptions like I started doing
after my epiphany in '91 and the same old situation looks completely different.
I suddenly saw and still see a whole new world of opportunities and
possibilities where I once could only find barren barriers. I found myself
changing things as I let go of my old debilitating assumptions; I felt more
purposeful, meaningful, and empowered as I chose new ones. I walk around with
a dance in my step, a twinkle in my eye, and a smile on my face. I feel--and
act--like an 'experienced teenager.' I believe that it's my demeanor--often
impishness--which leads people, especially students, to being surprised about
my physical age. You have to have a feel for the diverse shapes, colors,
textures in each classroom; you have to read the amalgam of conversations
emanating from their faces, bodies, and eyes; you have to be a consummate
people person; you have to have a rich repertoire of social encounters and
experiences to draw on; you have to have an empathy and sympathy for those who
are suffering drawn from a personal contact with personal setbacks; you have to
be resilient when things don't go the way you want; you have to know how
challenging it is to change things; and you have to accept that while you
cannot change the world, you can affect your world which, in turn, will
indirectly change the world.
"But what about all of my colleagues who tell me that I'm wasting my
time, that I'm being non-professional, and should focus on the scholarship in
my discipline?"
"Why can't you have two intertwined disciplines like those high and
mighty mission statements say our institutions have? I just think that people
who say you're not doing much by concentrating on teaching are talking more
about themselves than you. They should just get out of the way of what you're
accomplishing. After all, you're not in their way. To me, vision means you
have to follow your north star. Significance is about having a sense of
service, that it's about them, not you. Purposefulness is about having a
perspective that goes beyond the class and campus. Taken together they act as
a shield against distracting asides and diverging immediacies. Going alone
isn't the name of the game. Safety isn't the name of the game. Security isn't
the name of the game. Vision, meaning, purpose, significance are the name of
the game."
"Do you really think you've changed and altered anything? It seems so
senseless and useless, so meaningless, and so futile. I mean how much do you
really think you do?"
"There's that UPS driver a couple of weeks ago for starters. Then,
there's that pharmacist at CVS who last week, as I filled Susie's prescription,
who told me that the class, five years ago, gave her the inner strength and
confidence to defy her parents' insistence she enter the family accounting firm
and to follow her dream of becoming a pharmacist. Now, here comes the student
from last semester's class. That's only three, but it's enough to keep me
going; they keep me believing.
"Are you bragging?"
"Sharing. Celebrating. Modeling. Maybe even beckoning. Certainly
asking you to think about, if nothing else, proverbial but very real ripples.
You want only earthquakes? You know, the ground does not have to quiver to do
something that's earthshaking. You want guarantees, remember this: touch one
and you ultimately touch all; change one thing and you eventually change
everything. It may not be immediate, dramatic, obvious, remembered, or even
known; but, we each touch and shape so many lives of so many around us in so
many hidden, unexpected, and ways. Don't get frustrated with what might be
slowness or smallness or 'hiddenness.' In reality, believe you're planting one
acorn today. Tomorrow it will be a mighty oak. The day after it will shed
it's own acorn. The next day each acorn will grow into an Oak. The day after
than there will be a vast forest, and the landscape will be changed. What we
do is a continuation of chain reactions of feelings, attitudes, values, actions
that started long ago. You know, I am today the direct result of all those
paths I've walked and crossed; my story is written in those countless and
hidden words and gestures and actions during my 71 years of yesterdays.
Senseless? Useless? Meaningless? Futile? Not on your life! I prefer
positive words "purposeful," "meaningful," "marvelous," "significant." Touch
one student and you're one of those paths impacting on the course of someone's
tomorrows. Touch one student near you and you will touch others far from you
in time and space. That's earthshaking. That's shattering. That's the
guarantee you want. It's that 'It's A Wonderful Life' and 'Back To The Future'
thing."
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
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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