Last Monday an eighth-grader gave me a pledge to do things better. He’d flippantly written something offensive, and according to our practice, he was asked to write what the problem was, how it could be avoided next time, and what level of commitment he had to making sure it didn’t happen again.
I accepted his folded piece of paper as he headed to class. In my office I opened the paper and read of his shame at what he’d done. He ended with a single earnest line… and a mistake. Instead of promising that it wouldn’t happen again – as he intended to write – he omitted the “t” and wrote a whole different message.
“I will never happen again.”
I chuckled… then the truth of it hit me. He’s right, he won’t happen again. Neither will I. Neither will any of us. That is why all this effort of educating people is so worthwhile.
No one again will ever bear our unique fingerprint of personality, our approach to life, our spiritual potential. It’s the reason we must value each other… the reason we must practice compassion, the reason we must insist on competence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment