Two months ago I shared my experience with a broken window at my home. My thoughts then focused on breaking through windows to reach out and experience what we could see or imagine but didn’t have the opportunity to touch. feel, and change. Today that broken window was fixed, but it took awhile. Sometimes things get broken and it takes time to pick up the pieces, clean up, find the resources that can assist in repair, and usually requires some willing, helping hands. Broken things are not always easy to fix, and often frustration, despair, and fatigue can enter the picture.
Fixing something usually requires determination, resolve, and courage. It takes a vision of what can be made whole again and how it can be done. Although, time may pass and one may feel change is too slow or may never come it is important to remember that anything can be accomplished if people put their minds to making something right. My eleven year old son who broke our window two months ago spent some time earning money to pay for this new window, and we worked side by side this evening to take out the old and put in the new window. There was a great sense of accomplishment, but there was more of a feeling of redemption: paying back or making something right.
Charlie didn’t have to do all of this alone. He had people along the way to make up the difference and to fill the gaps that he could not do without help. That is what fixin’ things, as Mickey Joe Howard would say, is all about. It is never too late to right a wrong, repair a friendship, start over, do over, or make something up. That is how we learn, and that is how we grow. What are you fixin’ to do?
This has been a busy and exciting week for me. I had the opportunity to teach another SMART Board mini class on Tuesday. We had parent teacher conferences last night and this morning and deployed the parent portal portion of our student information system. Many parents stopped by our display to gain their access code that allows them to view their children’s grades online. Special thanks to Connie, and it was a pleasure to work alongside her!!!
Our power was off for several hours this evening and it was a pleasant experience. We had children sitting at the dining room table doing homework by candle light, I told stories about the olden days when I was a cowboy, and we were together because it was dark. There were no computers on nor television; yes, iPods were charged and available but no one thought to use them. The technology we used was mostly paper, pencils, and books. These forms of technology have served their purpose well for many years, and I have a feeling they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon because, you know, the power could go out at any moment.
