I have been trying to tell you

There have been many instances when I would catch myself saying the same things over and over for the last 30 years or so.

That gives me the validation that I have firm resolve on principles or ideals that I have lived by in my life as a mother and a teacher.

It is good to know that I have allies and if no one will believe my words, here is Einstein:

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted" 

 "Learning something means coming into contact with a world of which you knew nothing.  In order to learn, you must be humble." -Paulo Coelho

"The planet does not need more successful people.  The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds." Dalai Lama

Our planet also needs not only social workers but soul workers.

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think."  Albert Einstein

It is learning from one's own experiences not only to benefit the self but to offer these lessons as guideposts to others.

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 Just a few thoughts I have come across that I find might be useful more than the perfunctory "Congratulations!" to the awarrdees in the Recognition Rites tomorrow at HEDCen.  

So many parents look for schools that will give their children awards at the end of the year regardless of the rules of the game.  I find students who have gotten the honors and awards every year and still are empty inside.  Worst is when they get used to it and cannot therefore humbly accept when they lose in the "race".

Life is never a 'race'.  It is the slow trickling of water in an almost dying river or the rush of colors in the sunset.  It is something that one must personally experience and authentically live.  It is setting one's own benchmark in the effort for self-improvement.  Life is breathing the way one breathes not to benefit someone else's lungs.  Life is also about extending one's arms and hands to make a contribution to others.  It is so much more about knowing one's soul, healing one's hurt, getting up to try again and applying the lessons learned from having a life and from making big and small mistakes.  

These awards that I will confer tomorrow do not define the person or the child.  It must not be coveted for the honor and award as the end in itself  but moreso for its significant contribution to learning some life skills.  

I salute the children who have tried in spite of limitations, who have learned to laugh at their silly selves, and who at the end of the day, have a firm grasp of who they are and who they are not, what they did, and what they want to do when the next morning comes.

I love the children who have cried in desperation and have openly grieved for a goal unattained, I love those who have other "important agenda" and are seeking their own venues,  I love those who make me laugh and those who are alive because they are free from the shackles of (wrong) expectations.