Inspirational Quotes for the Class of 2011

Today is the senior picnic. Administration told me to cover it as a news story. I laughed in their faces and wrote this instead, to be published next week.

Over the years, a lot of things are said to young students about to leave school and embark upon a lifelong journey of learning and growing in the real world. It would be near-futile to try to capture two thousand years-plus of wisdom and boil it down to a 300-word article. But I’ve done it anyway.

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” Francis Bacon.
This philosopher/humanist of the Renaissance was undoubtedly trying to say that whatever we accomplish in life is determined more by our own individual will rather than circumstance. And those are inspiring words to live by. Of course, this is the guy who caught pneumonia trying to freeze a chicken in the snow and subsequently died, but he was on to something. We make our own way in the world. As long as we remember to wear a winter coat. Or come in from out of the cold and warm up. Or, you know, not die freezing chickens.

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford.
Now here’s a maxim we can all adapt. Anyone who ever had aspirations can’t be daunted by anything, but rather focus on what can be done to make them happen. Especially a guy like Ford. Eliminating bathroom breaks and forbidding loud conversation in the lunch room enabled him to build 10,000 cars a day in his manufacturing plant and find himself time for his true life’s goal: publishing anti-Semitic newspaper articles in the Dearborn Independent.

“Courage is the price the world exacts for peace of mind.” Amelia Earhart.
Totally a fair point. In order to stand for what you believe in, you can’t wait for convenience, and you can’t be beholden to the opinions of others. It takes a lot of courage to uphold one’s convictions. Earhart wasn’t afraid of tackling the odds and attempting to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane. And she…oh yeah...

“Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Jedi Master Yoda.
The little guy could fight pretty good, after all. Okay, I’m going with this one.

So out of those two millenia of learning, wisdom, accomplishment and industry we’ve got, what, one wrinkled green hand puppet who’s worth listening to? Yeah, that sounds about right. So long, losers.

Former-Student-Turned-Marine Inspiration

Today, an old student of mine who'd served in the Marines after graduation came back to school for a presentation on American veterans. He’d served his country in Operation Iraqi Freedom, undergone training and come back alive to tell his story and keep a national perspective in mind for the younger generation. After the presentation, he shook my hand, said he was doing good and offered to tell me more about his experiences.

I wanted to tell him how proud I was about how far he’d come, about how hard he’d worked, and about how well he’d conducted himself in what must have been a beyond-harrowing experience. I wanted to tell him he did his high school, and his country proud.

Instead, I said, “Joe, you’re doing well, not good. Your grammar sucks.” And I wrote him up and kicked him out of the building.


"Yeah, you're a hero. Now sit up straight."

Resource Center Inspiration

Today I wound up having to sub for a special ed resource study hall. It was a lot of walking around, checking work, prying earphones from kids' heads, stuff like that. But then one student, Luis, approached me about a paragraph he was writing for his English class about entering the Air Force after graduation. He gave me a stick of gum, we sat down and went to work.

It's been so long since I had a student ask questions like "What do you think of this word here? Is it a decent transition?" and "I'm not sure this word here means what I think it means--how can I find a better one?" and actually seem interested in the answers. The paragraph itself was an exercise in obviousness and basic thought, but it was honest, it was thoughtful, and the kid seemed to honestly want to make it as good as it could possibly be.

We toiled. We rewrote. We revised. And we finished.

It was definitely one of those moments that puts the whole educational mission in a new focus, fueling me with the inspiration and ardor necessary we all crave on a daily basis. A Teaching Moment for both student and instructor.

Anyway, you're not supposed to have gum in study hall. So I wrote him up and kicked him out.