To My Students: I Won’t Be Offended.

Here we are.  Summertime.  School is out, the weather is warming, the sun sticks around a little longer.  It is the time of year when we all retreat to our separate little corners of the world and live all of those things which make us look forward to the word “summertime”.  This year is definitely different, with all of its uncertainties we feel like we are trying to build a house on shifting sand. There are so many unanswered questions.

First there are the questions about normalcy. Will the pool open?  Can I go to the mall with my friends?  Will I be able to play baseball this year?  Next come the questions about the bigger picture. Are bills being paid? Are my friends and family ok? When will this end?

Then of course, we need to add to all of those questions the fact that different people are looking at all of this very differently.  Differing views over how to handle the virus and our various states of “lockdown” are costing some people life long friendships.  Emotional exchanges are happening between usually level and calm people.  Adults, who should be exemplars of behavior for you, are so stressed in ways that are unfamiliar to them that they are behaving in ways that they will be ashamed of in the future.  If our world’s current situation had a smell, it would be “EEEEWWWW”.  

Unfortunately, you have less control over things than even we do, and we don’t have much.  Yes, I can go into all of the motivational quotes; “Attitude is everything”, “Hang in there Baby”, “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on”.  I mean, they all make sense.  They must be true because they are on a poster after all.  No one questions the wisdom of the motivational poster.  That simply is not done.  There would be real anarchy in every classroom across this great country if we started to question the poster wisdom.  

I can see it now, young, innocent Timmy raising his hand to ask a question, “Mrs. Nerdleblank, is attitude actually everything?  I mean, everything?”  The class looks on, slack jawed at the audacity of such a question.

“Yes Timmy.  Yes it is.  Also, you should go to the office for even thinking of questioning the motivational poster.  This is something for which I will not stand.”  Timmy slowly stands and begins the long walk toward the office, knowing he is in real trouble this time. It is not the first time Timmy has questioned the wisdom of the posters.  He fears the worst; a phone call to Mom.  That means real trouble indeed.

So to keep us all out of the proverbial hot water with the poster police, let us assume that yes, attitude does matter in this and all circumstances.  It is also really tough to keep a positive attitude all of the time, especially when everything in the universe seems to be having meetings in some dingy back room somewhere in order to conspire against you. 

Let me assure you that teachers are having similar struggles.  We love summertime too.  We love the long sunlit days and getting more sleep.  After all, summer is the time when teachers entirely stop thinking about classes and lessons and anything to do with work.  It is when we leave to go on our around the world cruises or move to our beautiful mountain homes to get away from it all.  It is when we hit the town in our limos and party until dawn.  No, wait, that’s not us.  I am not sure who that is, but it’s not us………Anyway, the point here is that teachers don’t have limos.  We should though.  That should be put into our next contract.

The other point is that we are struggling along with you in all of the uncertainty.  We know many of you do indeed feel like you are standing on shifting sand.  Many of us feel the same way.  We know many of you have real worries and concerns and are fighting some serious dragons in your own lives.  On top of all of the worries is yet one more: the worry of offending someone.  What if you think you are doing the best you can and someone is offended by it because what they “think is best” is different from what you and your family “think is best”?  It is enough to make even the most level headed among us lose our cool.

To that end, let me say this to you, my students, whom I adore.  As summer comes and we head to our own little corners of the world, restrictions on our movements due to the pandemic are being lifted.  If I am not in my mountain villa and we do run into one another, I promise you that I will still see you as one of my students, whom I adore.  I promise that I will believe you are doing your best to navigate all of this.  I will not be offended if you forgot to put on your mask, or if you remembered.  I will not be offended if you stand a bit too close in the store.  I will not be offended if you back away a bit because you think I am standing too close in the store.  I will not be offended if you think we should handle our nation’s situation differently than I do.  Lastly, I will not be offended if you spot me out running errands and hide from me, because let’s be honest, you would have done that one anyway.