In less than a month I will attempt to set a tone for relationships with total strangers I won't be able to shake for a good 10 months. I've heard many a dire warning about beginning those 10 months on the wrong foot, which of course keeps me shifting from one side to the other. Some say maintain a stern visage and thaw it just a tad at the end of month two; others say make sure you're understood as slightly unpredictable, crazy even, just to keep them off-balance. One thing I do know for sure is I will be going for the gold. Hard, like Gabby Douglas and Michael Phelps.
On evening one of VBS we had 200 kids and no shortage of energy. I'm sure we could have fueled a mission to the moon with all the adrenaline we had in the building. It was awesome. Kids are so incredibly resilient it's close to a crime that we have to leave that stage so quickly. I believe it is at that point we become HUMAN.
You see, people cry with no shame when they're worried their mom won't come back, make you smile, or give hugs freely. Humans carry frustrations from hours, days or even years prior into every new conversation. People let it all hang out--whether they're in a church service or Walmart. Humans put up walls and stand on top of them to shoot arrows at you.
People mess is often immediate, in direct response to an event or emotion. Human mess is a slow, cumulative, hardening process that often takes a long time to unfurl. People emote; humans implode and make war.
For these reasons and more, I look forward to meeting, learning from and hopefully sometimes teaching the PEOPLE in my class to be no less than HUMANE.
Let's see what happens. I hope to keep you posted if I don't get swept away in a tide.
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