A good friend of mine emailed this piece to me. It's touching and inspiring. ENJOY!
Day by day, I am bombarded with insults from young people who are merely releasing years of pain and neglect; Young people who mistaken love for hate, kindness for weakness; Young people who sit and wait for you to walk out the door on them like everyone else has; Young people who grave for unequivocal love but are frightened by the possibility. So today I had a student who chose to completely disrespect myself, other teachers and his fellow classmates. As the students sat listening to his antics, D (pseudonym) said: Ms. Gibson, why havent you quit yet...these students are so disrespectful. C (pseudonym) replies "Because she loves us". It was at that moment that I was reminded of a lot. Love is about doing and not receiving, love is about letting go, love has no preconditions or contracts, love cannot be used in the same sentence as "but", "or", "only" & "if", love apologizes and love forgives, love says you can call me a bitch, say you hate me yet I reply "and i still love you", love is about friendship, love is about never speaking but always loving.... Everyday I am reminded of the power of love. Everyday I am reminded of the joys of life. Everyday I am reminded that it takes the SMALL moments of happiness to make the grandiose ones meaningful...
This is why i TEACH FOR AMERICA!
P.S. *JTOY*
By: FRANCESA ASHLEY GIBSON
DonorsChoose.org is a nonprofit that connects public school teachers with people who want to support classroom learning. They provide an avenue for public school teachers to submit project requests for specific materials their students need to learn. After weeks of waiting for my project to be funded, it finally was and it arrived to my school. My students LOVE the easel. Their paintings have turned from blobs to actual works of art. We are all grateful!
