No matter what happens, do not forget you are human. You must move and laugh and breathe deeply. You must sit and stare into another person’s eyes, whether they belong to a lover, a friend, or a beloved cherub looking up at you with a muddy nose. You must not miss these things, my young ones!
Do not forget that you are NOT a machine. You do not live in the cloud, the net, the matrix. You live here, on Earth, for better or worse. And being fully human, you have so, so many choices open to you—these powers of reason and intuition and choice being gifts that belong to no other creature yet known in the universe.
We are given brains to think, and bodies to love and work and play, and faces to express and connect, and souls to ask what it truly means to be human. And, best of all, we are given hearts to feel compassion and to know that our fates are intertwined.
Do not miss this amazing human experience, my young ones, no matter what else may come. Do not trade one second of experience (the true, deep, rich something) for some poor substitute (the new, newer, newest nothing). Claim this day, this moment, as belonging to you, to us, to joy….
I understand that you are looking to move on to new and adventurous endeavors, but I have encountered very few instructors who truly inspire and challenge students the way you do. I hope that teaching is something you continue to do, even if it is only part of the time.
Eric, Thank you so much for your kind words. I do believe that, even though I needed to close the chapter on teaching English, I will continue to teach in some capacity or other for the rest of my life as teaching holds such a big part of my heart. Look for me in student success classes in the not-too-distant future. 🙂 And thank YOU for being a wonderful student!
And even when being human brings pain and disappointment, being human and being connected to other humans is what will bring healing and recovery and laughter once again. When it feels like your heart is broken in two, or like you could never recover from an embarassment or mistake, it is being in touch with your humanity and aware that everyone shares similar struggles that will ultimately allow you to keep going while you can’t see the corner ahead where all of sudden you will feel a breath of fresh air and hope you can’t believe is buidling within you. It is then you’ll be able to see the beauty around you again, the love that sustained you and new possibilities for joy and growth. And of course for me, that which is greater than all of us, that part of our spirit that is shared by us all is always present, always wooing us to seek out the good, the meaning and the possibility for more than we can imagine every day and every hour. That is how we bring respect, dignity and honor to all that is human and discover the rich blessing of being alive and living the fullness and joy of human experience.
Such truth you speak, Linda…and so beautifully. I am so grateful for the many relationships I have today that do, indeed, allow me the full grace of being human. Thank you for your heartfelt response! <3
Amazing. Thanks for the inspiration!! Thanks for being unafraid to write from the heart.
Have an amazing day/week/month/year/decade/existence.
You are very welcome, Ruste. And thank you for blessing me in return! P.S. So excited…you are my first “friend of a friend” to find my blog! haha…ah, the joys of a baby blogger 😉