Things Worth Believing In

"" Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honour, courage and virtue mean everything ; that power and money ... money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this.... that love....true love never dies ! Remember that boy ... remember that. Doesn't matter if it is true or not, a man should believe in those things , because those are the things worth believing in...... got that ? ""

Second Hand Lions

This movie is worth seeing if you haven't for these words apply to us all.  This movie is one of my favorites - I wasn't feeling well and was home Sunday and this movie came on.  At the end of the movie, their adopted son remarks after his two Uncles died:

"They sure knew how to live."

And that is what I want said of me.

This past week I ran two miles without stopping for the first time in my life and I turned forty this past April.  (Love my Couch to 5K app.)  This Saturday I went to the grocery store and was distressed because I never can seem to get out of there without spending at least $400, and I spent $210 using my GroceryIQ app on my iPod touch , which has thus far cut my bill down from a whopping $1000+ a month to a little over $300 in the last three weeks. (Have I said lately how much I love my iPod touch , oh yes, daily on Twitter, sorry.)

We're working on Flat Classroom projects and so many things and life is like the honeysuckle vine growing on the fences back behind the track: the most beautiful fragrances come from the strangest places but if I wasn't out there running and sweating, I'd never get to smell those flowers.

Technology is part of everything I do in life - so much a part of my struggles and work to improve myself and my classroom and yet, I don't really think about it any more.  My iTouch is just there as is my cell phone, my toodledo list, my google calendars, my Facebook, Twitter, this blog - they are just part of life and not so much at the core of my life but just ways that I live.

This is like so many of us - it isn't really about the technology any more but about living our lives and working to improve ourselves where we are.

And as a backdrop of this striving, this struggle - there are things worth believing in from me as a teacher:

"That most teachers are good, honest, people who love their students and want to do a good job.  That honor, and courage, and valor mean everything... that money and power mean nothing.  That if we work hard enough and try and pray hard enough that good can triumph over evil in our schools and that love... true love never dies.  And that a true and wonderful form of true love can be that of a teacher for his/her students - the beautiful faces that grace the classroom daily both running from learning and yet with an innate desire to learn... and be loved. That I can use technology to reach the human mind in powerful ways that haven't been possible before. And that if I pray long enough, hard enough, and love hard enough, that even the coldest heart of a child who has endured the toughest things in life and has lost all self-belief and hope for the future can be reached by me as their teacher.  that I am doing work that is building the hope of all future societies that will ever grace this planet in the most noble profession on this earth... teaching.  Doesn't matter if it is true or not... a teacher should believe in these things because these are the things worth believing in... got that?"

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