how universal it is to be special
why am I still drawn to teaching?
I know the frustration that visits the learner
as each path forward seems to be blocked
and, even when the path is a good one,
doubts beat upon his and her self-assurance,
I know the frustration of being the teacher
and not having the sureness that a path I see
is actually right for the student,
I feel like the GPS artificial intelligence
who tells the student they’re not on the right path
and hurriedly comes up with what might work
with the choices the driver is making,
yet I also sense the wholeness within the self and behind the eyes,
the primal drive toward rightness that just needs help
to pull itself forward into being,
a teacher can see that basic rightness
that a student can’t just readily feel,
each step forward can feel daunted by gauntlets of self-doubt,
and I stay teaching so that I can cheer every progress
through all that works to deny how universal it is to be special.
by Henry H. Walker
June 6, ’14
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