Seattle is in a bad mood. Yup, everywhere I go people are gruff, “nice spring we’re having, huh? grumble, grumble . . .” Maybe it was the rain, snow, sleet and hail that besieged us last Thursday and Friday . . .and Saturday . . .and Sunday. Maybe the lack of sunshine for the last eight months is finally taking its toll. Maybe it’s the fear of looming floods once the record snow pack begins to melt.
I must admit, I’m tired of feeling cold. I’ve had it with $300+ heating bills, muddy shoes and dirty cars. Where is my spring? My latest poll indicates the majority predict sunshine by July. Ugh!
Life is like that sometimes. The rain keeps falling, with no end in sight. On some level, we believe our situation will change, eventually. But we wonder if we’ll last that long. We may struggle to get out of bed and face yet another cold, gray day.
Funny thing happened today. I noticed some buds on my rhododendrons. No, they’re not quite ready to adorn my yard. But in this once dead-looking bush, I see signs of life. Perhaps, spring will show up before July after all.
Ultimately, life is about perseverance. Those of us who place our hope in Jesus Christ know we aren’t home yet. This earth will never offer complete contentment, absence of frustration or freedom from pain. Along the way however, God provides moments of bliss. Against the backdrop of our struggles emerges the beauty of his loving intervention.
Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” I choose the latter. I trust the sun rose even if I can’t see it behind the clouds. So I’ll arise and wait for the buds to bloom. I hope you find a moment of bliss today.
~Joyce
Showing posts with label strength. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strength. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Well-Rounded Mediocrity
Next year my son starts middle school. We just received a brochure explaining all the electives offered at his new school. Foreign language, band, orchestra . . .he can even take model rocketry.
At the bottom of the page I noticed a little disclaimer that just might erase my son’s dreams of mastering the viola. It seems that kids who fail to test at grade level on the reading portion of the WASL (Washington’s Assessment Tool) must take a reading enrichment course as their elective. Apparently, only scholars are allowed to be artists.
For years, parents urged the schools to get back to the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. I’m sure the schools would argue they are responding to both the parents’ pleas and the No Child Left Behind mandate. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate.
Yes, I want my child to be a better reader. But why can’t he become a better reader in his language arts class (that he’ll take in addition to the reading enrichment class)? If we’re going to “enrich” slower readers, why not also corral the kids who don’t pass the math or writing sections? I guess you don’t need to know your times tables before you learn to count in Spanish.
In How Full Is Your Bucket?, by Tom Rath, he explains how the North Koreans broke their prisoners during the Korean War. Rath says, “the tactic of withholding all positive emotional support while inundating soldiers with negative emotions was perhaps bucket dipping [the term Rath uses for inflicting emotional/psychological injury] in its purest and most malicious form.” While this case is undoubtedly extreme, negativity in the workplace causes lost productivity, employee turnover, absences and increased unethical behaviors.
So back to the viola. Certainly, I want my child to learn the fundamentals. But I also want him to learn to love the arts, sports or whatever non-academic interest allows him to experience life to the fullest. How will he ever have the opportunity to flourish in other areas if he’s constantly held hostage by a federal standard meant to assess the effectiveness of schools?
What’s the point of this ramble? Why don’t we learn to celebrate people’s strengths rather than throwing all our energy into fixing their weaknesses? When we will instead start helping the weak and free them to make their own valuable contribution to the world we share?
At the bottom of the page I noticed a little disclaimer that just might erase my son’s dreams of mastering the viola. It seems that kids who fail to test at grade level on the reading portion of the WASL (Washington’s Assessment Tool) must take a reading enrichment course as their elective. Apparently, only scholars are allowed to be artists.
For years, parents urged the schools to get back to the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. I’m sure the schools would argue they are responding to both the parents’ pleas and the No Child Left Behind mandate. I think what we have here is a failure to communicate.
Yes, I want my child to be a better reader. But why can’t he become a better reader in his language arts class (that he’ll take in addition to the reading enrichment class)? If we’re going to “enrich” slower readers, why not also corral the kids who don’t pass the math or writing sections? I guess you don’t need to know your times tables before you learn to count in Spanish.
In How Full Is Your Bucket?, by Tom Rath, he explains how the North Koreans broke their prisoners during the Korean War. Rath says, “the tactic of withholding all positive emotional support while inundating soldiers with negative emotions was perhaps bucket dipping [the term Rath uses for inflicting emotional/psychological injury] in its purest and most malicious form.” While this case is undoubtedly extreme, negativity in the workplace causes lost productivity, employee turnover, absences and increased unethical behaviors.
So back to the viola. Certainly, I want my child to learn the fundamentals. But I also want him to learn to love the arts, sports or whatever non-academic interest allows him to experience life to the fullest. How will he ever have the opportunity to flourish in other areas if he’s constantly held hostage by a federal standard meant to assess the effectiveness of schools?
What’s the point of this ramble? Why don’t we learn to celebrate people’s strengths rather than throwing all our energy into fixing their weaknesses? When we will instead start helping the weak and free them to make their own valuable contribution to the world we share?
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