"I remember an old Catholic joke about a man who spent his whole life going to church everyday and praying to a statue of a great saint saying, 'Please, please, please let me win the lottery.' Finally, the exasperated statue comes to life and looks down at the begging man and says, "My son, please, please, please, buy a ticket. So now I get the joke and I bought three tickets." -Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love
So it's been awhile. Perhaps I've been a little negligent and lackadaisical in terms of posting on this blog within the last, oh, I don't know, roughly three months, but if you need an explanation as to why perhaps you should look at the title: Viva la Vida Buena. In phrase is Spanish (obviously) and translates to "live the good life," and, quite frankly, that's what I've been doing in the time that I have neglected this blog. Yet, these past three months have proven to be incredibly insightful to me as I've had time to reflect on particular moments in my life and contemplate what comes next to take me onward and upward.
I worked at a summer program for urban youth this year, which is basically an extension of an after-school program I have worked at for the past two years. I absolutely love my job there on all levels as my colleagues, the program, and most importantly, the kids were all completely wonderful. A big part of my profession as an urban educator, besides the whole being in a classroom and teaching students bit, is ensuring that I learn from the students as much as they learn from me so that I can grow as well. In short, I learned a lot (including how to effectively wu-tang, cat daddy, and dougie). Yet, it was interesting that the most important lessons I learned were the ones I already had been taught: they had just been reinforced in my soul in a way that I will never forget them. These lessons came through the hardships my kids face everyday. First of all, I'm not sure if they completely eat on a regular basis at home. While they have clothing and lots of other basic necessities, most of them do not own more than a few books, if they have any at all. Most of them have never left Pennsylvania, much less the Greater Philadelphia Area. Some rarely see their parents because they are each working two or three jobs to support their family. Others are legally not allowed to see their parents due to problems in their personal lives. And the most shattering and heart-breaking of all of these things is that almost all of these kids, no matter how much or how little they have, have never in their lives been told by an immediate family member that they are beautiful, capable, or lovable. They deal with this issues everyday, and I worry because I may lose touch with a few people in the coming year or because the new tenants in my old apartment may have screwed me over as far as the gas bill is concerned?!?! Come on, Sara, have some perspective with your orange juice this morning.
You know how sometimes you are completely aware of something all along...like, you REALLY know it...but sometimes you just need to have some random life experience to have that ingrained knowledge dawn on you? That's what this summer with these kids was. That's what student teaching was before this. That's what practicum, the after-school program, Jumpstart, PGST, and every other experience I had teaching was before student teaching. But, maybe I just needed it slapped into me one more time. The bottom line is that I can't necessarily change everything about these kids situations. Yet, as cliche as this sounds, I can, and have, been able to change a few things in their lives to make them understand how beautiful, capable, and lovable they are and have brought they individual talents forward so that they can live better lives. You know, so they can go onward and upward. And, in turn, they have taught me about my talents and have shown me how I can use them to rise above and become better. You know, so I can go onward and upward.
And in this particular case, I mean onward and upward in a completely literal sense.
As of right now, Spain is only 19 days, 1 hour, and 24 minutes away. It's the next step onwards in the progression of life and I literally have to go upward to get there. I've know about this and have been in preparation for four months now, but it has only just become real to me. In reflecting upon my life so far and my experiences this summer, I have thought of the quote posted above. Like Ms. Gilbert, who I had the distinct pleasure of hearing speak at Lehigh only days after I received my Fulbright, I get the joke now, too, and I have my ticket...specifically on a Continental flight out of Newark on September 2. This ticket will take me to Madrid, where I will buy another ticket that takes me to Valencia, where I will buy other tickets that take me God only knows where. Each of these tickets will provide me with experiences that will help me learn, grow, and teach. And, ultimately, those experiences will help me more than I can even fathom at this particular moment as I buy a return ticket to the United States and eventually get my own classroom and have the privilege of teaching students so I can give them their tickets to a life that will lead them onward and upwards of what they know. So they can reach their potential.
And, just maybe, through all of this, I'll reach mine.
