Everything Will Be Okay

Near the end of the school year, our English classes were giving how-to speeches.  One young lady wanted to show her classmates how to plant flowers.  She asked if there was a place on the property that she could do this.  Selfishly, I saw an opportunity for myself.  I usually plant the flowers around the flag pole and I water them each day only to see the deer come out and eat them every year.  I try hard and I have good intentions, but there are times it falls short.

So I told her to do my job and plant them around the flagpole.  I went out and watched that day.  She did a very good job with her presentation and had students help her plant the flowers.  When they were done, the soil work looked a little rough and I was mildly concerned for their survival.  Out of respect for their work, I did not try to correct it and after all the deer would be out soon to eat her flowers which I had warned her of.  I began to honor my commitment to her to water them each day, but I felt bad that I hadn't tried to make sure the planting work was better.

A few weeks went by and the deer had not touched the flowers.  In fact, the flowers were taking off and getting much bigger.  A couple weeks later the small little plantlings she started with had grown to fill the entire planting area around the flagpole.  The next week I had to leave for vacation.  When I returned I was prepared to see the flowers in very bad shape once I turned the corner.  To my surprise, they were thriving.  One of the custodians told me that he took over the watering duties while I was gone.  I was relieved because I had grown attached their success and didn't want to see her work be in vain.  It was sign of hope after a tough year.

This little story is simply a nugget to remind me that everything is going to be okay.  Educators often worry that they are not doing enough for their kids.  Did we not teach enough, where we not available enough and when some of our students fail, is our fault even if our effort was more than enough.  When you are a school leader, you feel that you might be falling short for your students and for your staff as well.  It is stressful and even small victories don't erase those feelings.

I want my people (educators) to know that its going to be okay.  This year hurt us, but we will recover.  Our students and their families will recover.  Just don't stop watering the flowers.  And know that if we can't, our school families will step up and water them for us.  Everything is going to be okay.