"I want to be the hero"

This post was inspired by one of my sweet little students.

This child is sensitive, sweet, and always entertaining.  He came to me out of the blue and said, "Ms. Temple,  I want to be the king.  I want to be the hero.  I want to save the town.  I want to stop the wind."

Of course, I encouraged him that he can most definitely be a king and hero who saves the town and stops the wind.  Go! Fight! Win!  We love the good guys!

At the moment, I thought it was a cute story and made me smile.  The longer I thought about it, the more I realized, OH MY GOSH, ME TOO!!!

I want to be the king.  We all do, don't we?  We all want to feel like we are the king or queen of something.  We all like to think we are the king/queen of our own lives.  We teachers like to think we are the king or queen of our classroom.  We make the big decisions, we make the rules, we keep our people under control we try to keep chaos from ensuing.  We have loyal followers who shower us with roses and admiration... Wait.... Nope! Sorry, just daydreaming.

I want to be the hero.  Who doesn't want to be a hero?  We all want to be really great at things, make a difference, and be recognized for our wonderful work.  We teachers want to be really awesome at everything.  We want to: have the most well-behaved class, have the best classroom management, teach the coolest lessons, produce the cutest projects, have the most adorable decorations, show the greatest progress, attend the most after-school programs/meetings, be the most positive worker-bee, etc.  Essentially, we all want to be Superman or Wonder Woman.  Let's be real here, ladies and gents, they are fantasy characters.  Try as we might, we just can't do it all.  It's a harsh realization, but we've got to get real.  We all need help in areas, we all need breaks, we all have some areas that we just aren't Wonder-Woman-worthy in.  We might be really super awesome at some areas... That's great!!! Help some people who aren't so great in that area!  However, don't overwork yourself.  Don't try to be the best at everything and make yourself sick or mentally unstable trying to do it all.  Do what you can, try your best, and know that YOUR best is enough.  Also, we all want to be recognized for being full of awesome-ness.  Sometimes, you do get recognized and it feels GREAT!  Sadly, most of the time, we are not recognized for all of our hard work, time, and blood, sweat, and tears we put into these students.  You've just got to learn to be okay without recognition and feel good about what you've done.  Be your own cheerleader!

I want to save the town.  Confession: I actually do.  I really struggle with this.  Here's me: I see an injustice and I want it reconciled... immediately.  I see so many things that are just plain wrong and I want to save everyone from it!  I find myself always thinking "There's got to be something that we can do!  Somebody's got to do something that will FIX this!"  I truly do have "Save-The-Town Syndrome".  I see a kid that isn't being taken care of AT ALL at home: I NEED TO FIX IT.  I hear a parent saying inappropriate things and see a parent doing irresponsible/disrespectful things in front of a child: I NEED TO FIX IT.  I see a student who is struggling no matter how I try to help him/her: I NEED TO FIX IT.  Lord Almighty, I am not the great fixer! There are some things you just can't fix.  But you know what you can do?  Pray.  He is the great fixer.  He's the great comforter.  He's the Savior.  Not me!   I will do my part to talk to "The Man" about it.  I will do what I can to help.

I want to stop the wind.  Life is unpredictable.  Just like the weather.  How many times do you watch the weather channel to figure out what is going to happen and the weather man is just stinkin' wrong??  We can't control this.  It's all in God's hands and that is SO much better than it being in ours.

All of these things can be super frustrating.  Once you realize the reality of these situations, it's an exceedingly happy feeling...  To know I can't and shouldn't be the queen.  To know that I'm not the hero.  To know that only God can save the town.  To know that He can stop the wind.  What a joyful realization!  If I truly was all of those things, I would be a total stressed-out, scatter-brained, chaotic MESS!

It's funny how one little boy who says one little quote can be such a big, true reflection of life.



Ending with funny little snippets from today:

"K-a-k. Kak?  That sounds gross.  It sounds like, poop yucky." - Student trying to sound out 'cake'.

"An ant?...An aunt?... Oh, not like a bug? I thought you meant like a bug.... Well, if my mom has a sister, I've never met her!" - Discussing a book about an aunt visiting.

K, bye!