It nice this balmy, cool morning. It was the first time I've gone out
before the
sun came up. True, it was only a three mile fast stroll, but it was a
beginning. In that
darkness, there was a light of calm. In that quiet, I was thinking about a
short message
I had received yesterday. It was from a student. "I heard you were real sick
and almost
died. I just want to tell me that you're okay. Still clean." You don't know
what that
means, but I do.
And, she got me to thinking once again about the how critical caring is to
teaching and
learning.
Will Rogers once said that he never met a person he didn't like. I
wonder how
many of us would really say that about each and every student. For me, there
is not one
student who is valueless and who is not worth nurturing! I'll repeat that.
There is not
one student, not one, who is valueless and who is not worth nurturing. There
is not one
student whose future is meaningless. I'll repeat that, too. There is not one
student, not
one, whose future is meaningless.
We all want to believe we are caring people, but while we are loudly
proclaiming
with our lips "I care about students," do we have an
unconditional--unconditional--caring
for each student even more fully in our hearts? Do we really feel a calling to
care? Do
we live that calling authentically? Do we get up each morning choosing to feel
caring?
Do we go out of our way to compliment, to offer encouragement, provide
emotional support,
and boost self-esteem? Do we make that critical one more effort to make that
all
important one more attempt?
Should we wonder about that? Think we academics, with all those
letters before
and after our names, with all those scholarly resumes, with all that
reputation, are
immune to such feelings? Think again. Watch PBS' "Failing By Degrees." I've
been in
this collegiate profession on either side of the podium since I was eighteen.
Fifty-nine
years!! I know we're not above fearfully worrying about what others think of
us. Do you
think we don't welcome the feeling that we are noticed, loved, and appreciated?
Do you
think our faces don't light up at such special moments? When we academics
dont feel
appreciated, when we don't feel recognized, when we dont hear compliments,
when we feel
we're the target of bias or prejudice, when we're fearful about our work, we
often without
realizing it begin to act the same way as the students. Our enthusiasm wanes;
our energy
is sapped; our attention is shortened and diverted. Then, the pernicious
excuses appear:
"I'm too tired," "I don't have the time," "I'm too busy," "It's not my job."
It creates
a self-defeating and vicious cycle of "Why should I go out of my way to say and
do nice
things for others when no one does it for me and there's nothing in it for me.
By a "calling to care" I don't mean turning your collar around. I mean
being
driven by a vision, being fired by a purpose, and being fueled by a meaning,
all of which
power a persevering conviction and enduring commitment This near-fatal
cerebral
hemorrhage has gotten me to wonder if the most caring people are those who have
faced
their mortality, known fear and suffering, known struggle, known loss, have
gone deep into
themselves to a place so quiet they could hear the ripples of their blood
circulating,
called on the power of their spirit, found their way beyond the point of
moaning and
groaning "why me," and have come out of the darkness. These persons have an
appreciation
and a sensitivity to life that fills them with awareness, otherness,
compassion, empathy,
kindness, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Just as I'm not sure you can
truly
appreciate Spring without having experienced winter, I'm not sure that caring
people just
happen or that caring can be truly taught in some academic setting of a "Caring
101"
class.
Yet, as I've said over and over, and from experience as a recent ICU
patient,
there is greater power in caring than there is in titles, credentials,
recognitions,
status, authority, knowledge, tests, and grades. Authentic caring is a matter
of
engaging, of downright "neighborliness," of genuine presence, of being
responsive to a
student, of reaching out to and touching a student, of being empathetic and
compassionate,
of being trustful, of being honest, of being kind and good. Caring is an
unselective and
unconditional nourishment of inclusive belief, hope, faith, and love. When
students feel
a teacher doesn't notice them, doesn't care about them, is there to weed them
out, the joy
of learning is drained out of them; confidence is replaced by anxiety and fear;
and they
really wont be as inspired to learn from that person. Students will be
happier, less
fearful, more relaxed, more eager in the classroom, and achieve more when you
care and
when they know it.
What darkens or lightens our teaching is the way we decide to live our
teaching.
Above my computer at home hangs a word: "Choose." It's all a matter of
choice, not
chance. Suppose we consciously choose to awaken each morning with our heart
saying, "I
must give, I must not demand." Suppose we deliberately choose to live each
moment of each
day with the purpose of caring enough to make a difference. Suppose we
intentionally
choose to get up each morning asking ourselves what we can do to help someone.
What we
would do, then, would not be a random accident. What we would do, then, would
be the
result of a vision and of a purpose. What we would do, then, would be the
result of
specific caring feelings, thoughts, and actions. If we create a truly caring
aura around
us, if we reach down into that caring and connect with it, everything we would
do would
have a real basis in purpose and meaning. It takes very little to notice, to
offer words,
to be kind, to nurture that help others feel how much we care about them. I
have learned
that these actions can have an impact throughout a person's life. We must
minimize the
sense of alienation, prejudice, and ongoing anger that pervades the lives of
far too many
people and replace these negative feelings with emotions and behaviors that are
filled
with compassion and caring. If we can muster the moral courage to keep an open
heart, we
enlarge both our heart and the hearts of others; and, then, we add meaning to
our own
lives while offering that precious gift to others.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis
Schmier http://therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/
Department of History www. halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\
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/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" -
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