I'm starting to put on my game face for the Lily-South Conference on Collegiate Teaching later this week. Getting in the groove for my presentation on creating a motivating classroom environment, psyching myself, starting to go deep, I can't help but come back to "HI." And, as I do, another story comes to me:
A wise, but poor and unknown rabbi who often travelled on foot to a certain city where, looked down upon and shunned by the wealthy community leaders, the only person who would offer him food and lodging was a poor Jewish tailor who lived in the poor section of town. As the years passed, the rabbi became famous. He came to the same city riding in a regal horse-drawn carriage. This time the wealthy head of the Jewish community sent a message, inviting him to stay in his palatial home. The rabbi gratefully accepted the invitation, but he sent his horses to the house of the wealthy man, while he himself went directly to the poor home of his old host. When the rich man expressed his shock, the rabbi explained, "When I came to this town on foot, wearing rags, you didn't think of inviting me to your home. Now, when I am famous, arriving in style with a four-horse carriage, you invite me. I am still the same person. So, you must really be respecting the beautiful four horses instead of me, and that's why it is the horses who should go to your home and be welcomed as your honored guests." So, I ask, like the wealthy community leader, how many academics are in a state of "thingification?" How many are mesmerized by, devote their attention to, and offer their hospitality selectively to the high GPA or honors or major or research. How many disparage, shun, don't notice, and don't welcome the low GPA, the "average," "challenging," "special needs," "poor," the undeclared? Yet, to paraphrase Lincoln, God must have liked the "common" student because he made so many of them. Maybe we should think about that, if for no other reasons than recruiting students to our campuses, or wanting or needing to retain students ,or having to improve graduation rates, or being at institutions that are tuition dependent, you better establish a "sticky" academic brand loyalty with a continuing and campus-wide "Glad you're here" and "How can I help you on your journey" caring friendliness, supporting and encouraging assistance, and faithful service. We should learn from Abraham. Now, picture him, for he offers us shining lessons in "Hospitality 101." When those strangers appeared at his tent, he didn't first size them up. He didn't lay down any conditions. He had no idea who they were. He didn't know anything about them. And, it didn't matter to him. He greeted the strangers, as we should greet each and every student every day, unconditionally as if each was an angel. No sense of inconvenience. No annoyed belief of wasting time. No feeling of being put out. He wasn't passive in his hospitality. He didn't lounge around, idly smoking a hookah, looking up at the arriving strangers with a blasé "What do you want" look, put a perfunctory smile, and wait for them to make the first step. When he saw them, he didn't reluctantly arise, painfully trod over to them with an annoyed, "not a again," a sighing "ho-hum, let's get this over with" slouching. Look at what he did. When he saw the strangers, he took the initiative; he excitedly jumped up, rushed out to greet them; he bowed before them, embraced and grabbed them, and welcomed them into his tent. There was nothing passive about his hospitality. He was an elated "wow" incarnate. He "hastens;" he "runs;" he instructs Sarah to "quickly." He washes their feet, gets the best cut of meat, has Sarah bake fresh bread, and he waits on them. And, in furtively moving about, he revealed about what he was deeply passionate and what tapped his heart. There was no sense of it being troublesome inconvenience, demanding sacrifice, heavy burden, or odious obligation. His efforts felt valuable and meaningful. His passionate greeting revealed the most authentic image of his "inner Abraham." It brought out the truth in him. He revealed his true welcoming spirit, his commitment to welcoming; he shows his guest great respect and humility; he shows love. There was nothing obligatory, nothing chore-like, nothing burdensome, nothing merely compliant, nothing insincere in anything he said or did. He went out of his way, beyond the call of duty, to do everything he could to help them. Because Abraham felt that breaking bread with them was a joyous privilege, the strangers lost their "stranger-ness" and felt safely at home. Yeah, it's "HI 101" and his attitude is worth learning about and emulating even if it is both hard to learn and harder to practice: caring, welcoming, respecting, dignifying, valuing, encouraging, supporting, nourishing, strengthening, sharing, serving. His hospitality had all the qualities of unconditional sincerity, displayed without any hint of reservation, hesitation, or equivocation. I have found that hospitality is like a psychological and social gravitational force that draws people together. When I greeted each students at the classroom door during those first minutes of the semester, they lit up as the strangers must have felt when Abraham greeted them. And, as we did a series of "getting to know ya" exercises, and as I continued to both literally and figuratively shake their hands throughout the semester, it was easy to see how barriers were slowly broken, bridges were slowly built, and supporting and encouraging community was slowly created. As students lost their "alone-ness" and "lonliness," as they became "friends," the class felt more and more like a comforting, supporting, encouraging, and nourishing place. And, as that happened, it becomes a more relaxed, safer, accommodating, and more productive place. How do you think the strangers would have felt if Abraham had turned them away to face the unforgiving desert in their weakened state, if he had demonstrated that they were not welcomed, not wanted, not valued, not respected? How important and worthy do you think students would feel if they experienced the same sorts of disconnecting rejections in our classes? How do you think Abraham would have felt had he turned the strangers away with a snarling face rather than a warm smile? So, how do you feel when you must accept into your academic midst all those "they're letting everyone in," "students nowadays don't," "students today can't," "I don't have the time for them" in the name of recruitment, retention, graduation rates, and tuition dependency when you really would like to cut them out from the herd? Who are you, then, to the students? Does your perception prejudice that "they're letting anyone in" attitude turn you off so that you turn students away? Does your conception bias that "students don't" mean you don't? Does your "students can't" prevent a welcoming embrace? Does your "busy-ness" get in way of lending a hand? Does your "student's won't" translate into your "won't?" What do you think as you think of students as an encroachment on your push for tenure or promotion? Do you crack a forced smile, but leave the students as strangers? Does your one day of band-wagon ice breaker followed by business-as-usual make leave students cold and distant? Whom do you see when you walk the campus, stroll down the halls, enter the classroom? Do you hear those angels proclaiming, "Make way, make way, make way for someone created in the image of God?" Those are important questions, for way you view the students no less than the way Abraham viewed the strangers, is the way you will interact with them. See obstacles instead opportunities, problems instead of possibilities, limits instead of potential, that's what you'll get. On the other hand, if you see opportunities instead of obstacles, possibilities instead of problems, potential instead of limits, that's what you'll get. Who are you, then, to the students? Are you warm and welcoming? To be hospitable, you don't just learn their names or do a one day of ice-breakers and then back off; you have to have the servant's attitude--every day. Do you stand ready, waiting, and willing to serve each student? Do you see being hospitable to each student as a personal moral responsibility? Do you treat each student as a guest of honor? Are you aware of and sensitive to their stories? Do you really know where each is on the road in life? Do you, like Abraham, prepare and energize the students for what is to come outside the tent? Forget about recruiting, retention, and graduation rates. Think about you. When you see the worst in students, it brings out the worst in you. But, when you see the best in students, it brings out the best in you. If you look at each of them with love, if you see the uniqueness in each of them; if you see beauty, richness, potential, and possibility, if you act kindly towards each of them, I guarantee you'll be joyful and fulfilled. Teaching will unfold as you expect it. Treasure each student, value each student, love each student, whatever the circumstances, and teaching will be a valuable, loving treasure. Sounds sermon-ish, I know. But, it's true. And think of your choices. To moan and groan, to be angry and cynical, to be resigned and annoyed, to feel put upon, to grouse and growl? Why? That's a miserable existence. Why would you want to imagine the worst of any situation when you can imagine the best? Personally, I'd rather soar than crash. I prefer to lift myself up rather than tear myself down. I'd rather race than idle. I'd rather devote my energy to making that enlightening light brighter rather than darkening the dark even darker. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org 203 E. Brookwood Pl http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta, Ga 31602 (C) 229-630-0821 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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