There are some who help keep people's dreams alive. They fan the tiny flames. They dig around the embers, the coals, trying to get a fire reignited. They bring in kindling.
There are other people who squash people's dreams. They criticize. They ridicule. They refuse to listen to some out-of-the-box thinking from a writing colleague.
I'm lucky. I belong to a great writing group. When I do encounter people who are "clueless" about my writing (and everyone else "gets it") I know that probably that one person is the one who's in the wrong... it's not my writing that needs work.
Recently I wrote about my students in a post for WOW. While we were discussing the project they were working on, I brought up Mae Jemison--the first African American woman to go up into space, and how a kindergarten teacher tried to squash her dreams.
If you're curious about what the teacher said, check out the post... and think about how you nurture other people's dreams, along with your own.
You are an inspiration to your fellow writers, and your students will remember you as one of their favorite teachers. YOU make a difference.
ReplyDeleteA zillion years ago, when I was in middle school, a teacher made a remark about a scrapbook I put together. The scrapbook won a blue ribbon in a statewide competition, and she said something to the effect of "I don't understand why it won." She was definitely a dream-squasher. Wish all teachers were like you, speaking positive words to students.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is up and running again. Yay!
ReplyDeleteJonathan Swift said that you will always know a genius by the confederacy of dunces trying to drag them down! It's true for anyone who attempts something--some will cheer them on and some will sit on their duffs and criticize. It says more about them than about the man in the arena, to borrow a phrase from Teddy Roosevelt.
ReplyDeleteLinda--Thanks... and yay right back at ya.
ReplyDeletePat--That is awful. I had a student who entered the Scholastic Writing Contest, and if her poem had not won something, I was going to tell her she had been robbed, that the judges must be blind and illiterate and incapable of feeling. However, the student won in the silver level, so I didn't have to go into a rant. However, discounting a win and trying to denigrate a judge's decision? That's horrible.
Shay--Sadly, we have too many dunces in our country right now. Thanks for stopping by.
You're a nurturer! Opening lines are killing it here... love picturing you fanning tiny flames :)
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