alyssa, are you out there?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
I'm doing this mostly because of your request. But also to motivate me to get my thoughts moving in a more lyrical way. I'm always telling people what I think anyway, but ... I don't write so much lately. And since I've been self-identifying as a writer for so long, this seems silly for me.
The primary interest of my life right now is child psychology. To put it in a less clinical way, the workings of little minds. I've found that attempting to understand the workings of little minds sure helps a person understand older minds as well. And it really helps one understand one's own mind.
Working with seven year olds requires the ability to hold no grudge and to harbor no bias. A child who was a selfish little crabbypuss one moment may be the kindest, gentlest soul you've ever encountered the next. And, as a teacher, I realize I need to accept this about my students.
In life, I realize that I need to accept this about my friends and family, too. Seven-year-olds need a brand new chance about every 15 minutes. Big people need a brand new chance pretty often themselves.
After going through a very stressful six months, I've discovered that, particularly under great duress, crabbypuss and angelic being can be very close together on the personality scale. And it is a deep joy and a deeply humbling experience to realize there are people in my life who are willing to accept this, and to give me another chance however often I need it. And it is deeply frustrating to be genuinely remorseful and to seek another chance and not be given one.
I can't imagine trying to learn from and look up to someone who wouldn't give you all the chances you needed to be a good person. So I am learning to show up every day expecting excellent little people to file in, albeit looking pretty sleepy.
The primary interest of my life right now is child psychology. To put it in a less clinical way, the workings of little minds. I've found that attempting to understand the workings of little minds sure helps a person understand older minds as well. And it really helps one understand one's own mind.
Working with seven year olds requires the ability to hold no grudge and to harbor no bias. A child who was a selfish little crabbypuss one moment may be the kindest, gentlest soul you've ever encountered the next. And, as a teacher, I realize I need to accept this about my students.
In life, I realize that I need to accept this about my friends and family, too. Seven-year-olds need a brand new chance about every 15 minutes. Big people need a brand new chance pretty often themselves.
After going through a very stressful six months, I've discovered that, particularly under great duress, crabbypuss and angelic being can be very close together on the personality scale. And it is a deep joy and a deeply humbling experience to realize there are people in my life who are willing to accept this, and to give me another chance however often I need it. And it is deeply frustrating to be genuinely remorseful and to seek another chance and not be given one.
I can't imagine trying to learn from and look up to someone who wouldn't give you all the chances you needed to be a good person. So I am learning to show up every day expecting excellent little people to file in, albeit looking pretty sleepy.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 10:38 PM.
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2:43 PM
callou callay!
call me if you're in lincoln, please.