My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old, or let me die!
The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
William Wordsworth
1804
A short note to those I teach-
The world you know will change and you will wonder where it went.
I blew candles out tonite. Again. How quickly the annual lighting occurs. The significance of a birthday changes every year. This year I wondered, "Why candles?" (My cake had only 3 this year, probably due to budget and fire code).
Nostalgia is dangerous. Today it occurred to me that when a student talks about a former teacher they 'loved', they almost always mention a specific assignment associated with that teacher. The sum of said teacher becomes encapsulated within said assignment and that teacher is wonderful. I wonder if I have any of those students out there? Or, better yet, I wonder how many of those former teachers were told they were wonderful in the moment. I confess to having former students who were wonderful and I never told them so. The danger of nostalgic memory? Singular moments glorify or vilify people.
Slowly, I am beginning to understand some of my students.
Here's a thought from C.H. Spurgeon-
"We are foolish to expect to serve God without opposition; the more zealous we are, the more sure are we to be assailed by the myrmidons of hell."
myrmidon \ˈmər-mə-ˌdän, -dən\
one who executes without scruple his master's command
