After I decided to scrap the title of my book of selected Random
Thoughts, "A Dictionary of Teaching," for my new title, "Faith, Hope, Love," I
read a comment made by Tyrion Lannister of GAME OF THRONES. “Power resides,"
he said, "where men believe it resides.” Five things occurred over the past
week and one this morning that reinforced my belief that a variation of that
statement applies to faith, hope, and love. Those people in whom those virtues
reside and from whom they exude, who are practitioners of those virtues,
brighten anyone's day. They're infused with what I call a "de-self-centering
otherness": their reality is infused with caring about others; they have a bold
strength in their own skin; they're enveloped by limitless gratitude; they an
earnest self-awareness; they don't seek title, position,or reputation; they
never mistake motion for action, word with deed; they don't excuse with "try,"
but act with "do;" they don't impress with a recitation of a career resume;
they transform their profession into both an outer and inner calling; they're
kind and generous to others; they flood others with joy; they listen well to
others; they notice others; they value others; they think only of serving
others; conquering their fears and hesitations, they're fearless,
compassionate, devoted, persevering empaths; they nourish rather than weed out;
and, they're energized by and electrify others with faith, hope, and love.
Faith, hope, and love reside where people feel they reside.
So what were these one-plus-five events that confluenced and triggered
these thoughts? This morning, I was sipping coffee by the koi pond. There was
a slight breeze in the air gently rustling through the philodendron guarding
the pond. The skies were gray and clouded as heralds of predicted rain. The
quiet of the dawn was broken by the song of a distant bird. And, as I watched
the koi dance their ballet, remembered my Rumi: "The breezes at dawn have
secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. I listened to the five other
occurrences. First, at the request of Amy Carter, a teacher at local Lowndes
High School, a fellow traveler and kindred spirit, I participated in an
exhilarating round table discussion with twenty students in her pre-education
class who were considering education as their future profession. As you might
expect, my central theme, as I handed out my TEACHER'S OATH, was that at the
core of teaching were unconditional and non-judgmental faith, hope, and love;
that education is a people business in which its practitioners always have
out-stretched hands to help others help themselves along their way. Second, I
read in passing a statement by the political theorist, John Schaar: "The
future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are
not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the
maker and their destination." Third was a piece by David Brooks, in last
Saturday's NY Times, called "The Moral Bucket List." The fourth was a profound
and deeply personal message I received from a dear friend at a southern
university. About that I will say no more. But, I will say something about a
brief, but humbling, note from a student attending Mount Holyoke who read my
last Random Thought on faith, hope, and love: "After transferring from
Valdosta, I have yet to meet a professor as passionate and caring as you . You
had a great impact on my life and the lives of others, through your history
class! I learned a lot about self-love and persistence! You know....life
lessons that actually matter. You are a person who lives a life of purpose. You
have cultivated your skills and helped others on the way! I hope to be more
like you one day! Thanks for believing in your students and me!"
Faith, hope, and love reside where people feel they reside.
These five streams meet at a junction to remind us that those with
faith, hope, and love are made, not born. They are practitioners who have
chosen, for a variety of reasons, to be the embodiment of those words. They
understand, as John Donne wrote, no one is an island; that everyone needs help
from others. They understand and recognize that education is personal, that
the absence of unconditional, non-judgmental faith, hope, and love is a lethal
barrier which needs tearing down. They see that education is first, last, and
only about people, not just information and skills needed for credentialing.
They help others see over the horizon beyond passing a test, getting a class
grade, accumulating a GPA, landing a "good" job, and getting a top salary.
It's really amazing that so many academics are uncomfortable, to say the least,
with faith, hope, and love; that as a consequence faith, hope, and love are so
foreign in an academic vocabulary whose imbalanced culture is more concerned
with developing skills and methods for a career rather and not being equally
concerned with developing the qualities needed to build character; it's
unfortunate that academia focuses far more on the marketplace and almost always
leaves the inner place ignored and unexplored; it's sad when their presence and
utterance is so surprising to students. Personally and professionally, I wish
faith,
Faith, hope, and love reside where people feel they reside.
But, I also tell you that faith, hope, and love are struggles, and it
takes both hard work and courage to live them. And, should always be, for if
we can do it "in my sleep," it's not particularly fulfilling; and fulfillment
doesn't come easy or sleeping our way through. We can't do anything free and
easy, and expect it to be rich and meaningful to either us or others. The
treasure of what we do is in meeting the challenge to move away from being
conditional, selective, small spirited, and judgmental. Faith, hope, love are
not "Hallmark-ish." They're not wishful thinking. They're not pop-cultural
buzzwords. They're not trendy. They're not hip. And, they certainly aren't
antique analogs in a digital age.
No, gracious as they may be, they're kind of gritty. We have to move
away from being conditional, selective, small spirited, and judgmental; we have
to stop presuming, generalizing, stereotyping, and assuming. Going deep
they're about hearing, seeing, and feeling in a certain way. If we embark on
this moral trek, we'll find that they offer a clarity and sensitivity that
gives us insight to the needs, not just the wants, of others. As we venture
along, they ask us to look at and pay attention to our spirit, our state of
mind, and our state of heart. They ask us to tune up and tune in our senses.
They are are words of "Now," "Here," "This." They required us to be present
and right here; tied not to our lectures or controlled discussions, but to the
person in front of us; concerned not only to help others learn how to make a
good living, but to learn how to live the good life as well. They ask us to be
the embodiment of laughter, kindness, empathy, patience, dedication,
commitment, compassion. And, hardest of all we can’t mess with or short cut
the amount of time and energy and presence that they require. There’s no
technology for them, no app, no magic bullet, no hat trick, no quick fix, no
sure-fire manual, no transforming elixir,
Faith, hope, and love reside where people feel they reside.
I wanted to write about the kind of hope that's faithful and loving,
the kind of faith that's hopeful and loving, the kind of love that faithful and
hopeful. That interlocking strand is like super-bouncy flubber, a strong
emotional formula gives that needed resilient bounce for the ounce. It makes
us poor haters and weak disparagers; it makes us passionate and compassionate
advocators as well as strong lovers. Those kinds of faith, hope, and love are
harder to live with, because it's easier to be cynical. I mean, when you're
cynical, you're never disappointed. Problem is that we may find safety and
comfort among that with which we expect and agree, but we from risk,
discomfort, and disagreement. Consequently, faith, hope, and love, however,
don't come without significant challenges, if for no other reason than we
cannot control those whom we wish to help. Of course, at the same time we
don't make ourselves into who we wish to be. Sure, we'll be met with
disappointment, heartbreak, mistakes, fatigue, frustration, ridicule,
dismissal, disregard, disparagement, and a host of other challenges thrown in
our path. Let the cynics condemn what we feel and do "new-age," fluff, tosh,
soft, touchy-feely, dumb down, watering down. Faith, hope, and love among
what David Brooks calls the more important "eulogy virtues," the ones that
Linda Ellis describes in her poem, "the Dash," that will talked about at our
funeral.
However, we shouldn't despair or throw up our hands in frustration or
grit our teeth in exasperation if we don't have immediate answers or solutions
or approaches--or results--to silence the snideness'. To the contrary, The
more we have faith, hope, and love, the stronger our armor against the slings
and arrows of disdain and ridicule. They deepen our courage and further open
both our hearts and minds to both others and ourselves. We should, however,
get up next morning and do it again. And, the next morning, get up, and if we
have been disappointed, we still do it again. They're the kind of words with
which we get up every morning and choose to make the world just a little kinder
and people a little better in our own way at our own pace, even if it's one
person at a time. And, if things don't work out, as Samuel Beckett would
say, they help to insure they don't work out better. Nevertheless, as Rainer
Rilke might have said, they demand we live the questions, hold on to the
questions, being a questing Diogenes, until we live into the answer, live the
answer, and become the answer.
Later on how I do it. Enough for now.
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 /\ /\ /\ /\
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