Date: Sat 3/24/2007 5:33 AM
Random Thought: A Quickie On "Don't Belongs"

As I struggled to find my way through the "yellow out" out of this morning's pollen storm and fearful of being afflicted with yellow lung, I was thinking of Tom (not his real name) and how he finally came through on the "Hollywood Film Festival" project. The day of his community's presentation, he wrote in his journal, "Wow. I can do it like to said to me all the time. How about that!!" I wrote back, "You want me to be surprised? I'm not. You're just seeing what I saw all the time. You're no longer blind to yourself. Congratulations. Now, keep taking more steps......"

All the times of "you can do it" urging, "you're disrespecting yourself" cajoling, "there is no try" getting-in-his-face, and "I'm not going to let you blow it" eyeball-to-eyeball talks seems to be paying off. He is--or is becoming a "was"--what we academics might label as an unprepared, poor, unwanted "doesn't belong." Well, he wasn't poor; he just hadn't opened his inner treasures. He was prepared, but just didn't believe it and didn't think there was anything there to use. He does belong now, always did, but especially now that he's beginning to have hope for and faith in himself. And, I thought how often we bemoan having that weed of a student in the classroom and wish that they wouldn't "just let anybody in." But, you know, I don't think we should wish for the disappearance of such students. Instead, we should wish for the compassion and be grateful for the opportunity to help them transform themselves from weeds into blossoms.