I often gave my students mini character lessons in between teaching them about linear equations and the quadratic formula. Among my tried and true suggestions was that they work hard when young so that they might enjoy a less stressful future. I’m not sure that many of them understood what I was attempting to tell them but a few here and there got the gist of my idea. I had learned that it is far easier to get the degrees and certifications necessary for marketable job skills when one is young, energetic and mostly free from major responsibilities than when older. As the years tick by and adult duties proliferate it becomes quite difficult, though not impossible, to change the trajectory of life caused by the choices made along the way. Hard lifting performed in one’s youth usually pays big dividends later in life. I suppose that when I waxed eloquently on such topics most of my students found refuge inside their own thoughts. I most likely sounded like the infamous teacher in the Peanuts films, sound and fury signifying nothing. Nonetheless I had benefited from my own experiences and I hoped to reach at least one soul with my mutterings. Continue reading “The Golden Snitch”
She was so beautiful that young men gazed at her longingly. They often asked me to intercede for them, put in a good word. She had many followers and suitors but before all of that she had been my friend. We shared secrets as young girls so often do. We dreamed together and plotted the direction of our futures. We both devised outsized plans, imagining that we would each somehow have a major impact on the world. We were inseparable and thought we would always be that way, but things changed, slowly at first and ultimately so rapidly that we began to feel uncomfortable when we were together. Our relationship unraveled as we moved almost in opposite directions and one day we found that we had little in common. Our conversations were stilted, unnatural. We were not angry. We didn’t have a fight. We simply had outgrown the childhood friendship that we once had. We parted without rancor. 
If you are a Downtown Abbey fan you know all too well that tragedy has struck the Grantham household again and again. As Tom Branson recently told his sister-in-law, Mary, the two of them have been hurt and no matter what they do they will no doubt be hurt again. It is the stuff of life for everyone. We can’t escape illnesses, disappointments, failures, or death. We would love to have a perfect life without any bitter surprises but that is just not the way things work.
I’m one of those individual’s whose mood becomes dark when the days are short and the weather is frightful. For that reason I have generally found myself languishing in a bit of a funk during February. Not even Valentine’s Day or the holiday provided by President’s Day is usually enough to bring more of a smile to my face. What I need to feel really good is sunshine. I believe that some psychologists call my winter time moodiness SAD disease, or seasonal affective disorder. 
It has oft been said that education is wasted on the young. While that is not entirely true, I suspect that some of the niceties of learning are never quite realized until we have experienced more of life. When we are not yet adults our focus is on far different aspects of the world than after we have experienced more of reality without the aid and comfort of our parents. With our widening horizons we are capable of deeper understanding. Somehow the curiosity that pushed us as toddlers resurfaces and we find ourselves seeking answers to a multitude of questions. Like a three year old we enthusiastically enjoy the world with all of our senses, ever alert for new experiences and adventures. 
