Something happens as we and they grow. We find things difficult. Barriers appear. Limits arise and dreams fade in the reality of the daily grind. Slowly we give up on what could be and settle into what is. The scary part of this process is not that it occurs but how fast that it occurs. Does it begin as a Junior taking the ACT or SAT, or the 7th grader trying out for the basketball team, or 9 year-old not reaching grade level in reading, sentenced to skill and drill practice until they are a reader, or the 6 year-old who doesn't pursue the ball on the field, or the 13-month old who isn't walking yet? Dreams fade and reality sets in.
Somewhere along the journey, paradise is lost. In the daily grind we lose aspiration and develop acceptance. However, the funny thing is that there is potential in all of us and at any point all of us can accomplish things that we had never imagined but it begins with a baby step.
Last night we celebrated the retirements of over 600 years of district service. The last of my elementary school and middle school teachers retired. The world has changed since Jo and Glenn entered the profession. They were established veterans before I went running past their classrooms. Jo entered at a time when when Nixon was president, Secretariat won the Derby, and Dick Allen earned a record $750,000 to pitch for the White Sox for 3 years. Glenn entered the profession as MTV debuted and actually played music, Daily Light Savings time was introduced, and Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated as the first female Supreme Court Justice. They are leaving their "profession" in a world where music is created on a screen as often as it is played on the saxophone, one in which Ryan Howard and Cliff Lee are each earning $25 million to play for the last place Phillies.
For Jo and Glenn it would have been so easy to say that this strange place of where I worked is not the world I chose to enter. No one would have batted an eye if they said, I'm near the end, I don't need to understand this MAP assessment thing or that 1:1 craziness. However, they didn't. They took the step forward and said, I can make something out of this for my kids. I can figure it out. And after being in the classroom year after year, decade after decade, seeing goofy child after goofy child, they did what they always did and worked to make the best learning opportunity possible.
Potential doesn't leave us when we first fail. It doesn't fly away when we can't walk right away or read at the right time. Potential doesn't stop because one doesn't get into the right college or fails at their first job. Potential doesn't stop because we retire. Potential is always before us. At any point we can take those first steps on a new journey. Each moment we have the opportunity to redefine the road ahead of us if we choose. We just need the clarity and determination of will to take the hard step forward. As I looked at Jo and Glenn last evening, and had the opportunity to see opportunity to catch up with former teachers and former colleagues, I realized that their journey is only beginning. They have potential to do great things just like my children at home. All of our adventures are before us, let us make time for them and have the internal fortitude to take them.
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