2009-12-01

Today We Become Heroes

One student who didn't do any work over break on the new online math program didn't have electricity. This is the same one who used to throw chairs and punch people. Because I do believe in him and want to protect who he's becoming, I said, "So? That's just an excuse. It's a pretty good one, but it still stopped you didn't it? This other student right here who doesn't have a computer went to his grandfather's a couple of days over break and had the second highest growth in class because of it. How about coming in with a stack of papers filled in with your work, telling me, "Mr. Stuart, I didn't have electricity in my home but I did have it in my heart. Look at what I did do."

What about doing math in the dirt with a stick? Go ahead and cry if u want. Refuse to do the classwork if u want. It's your life. It's your children you'll have to explain why you don't have electricity to as an adult because you didn't overcome the problem as a child.

You can't change the past. You can only change the future. Find a way!

He came up to me in the hallway during bus dismissal and told me his cousin was going to come over with his wireless laptop. I told him if he follows through, if he really does find a way to overcome a very real problem that would hold most people back, he breaks the cycle holding him back......and becomes the stuff movies are made of. All I was trying to do was help him break the cycle by building him into something bigger than the problems creating it.

Because whether or not a movie is actually made of this kid's life, he is the star actor in it. Is he acting with the courage, passion, and power he could and should be? Is he the hero in his own life? Or is he the villain?

The answer is, yes he is the hero. When I checked the progress this morning he grew enough to put him in the top 10 of the class in most growth yesterday.

And it just may have broken the cycle and changed his life because of what he had to overcome in order to do it.

The question for the rest of us now becomes, are we acting with the same courage as this 11-year old? And are we changing our lives because of it?

My uncle died yesterday. I bet he would take on any difficulty no matter how great just to be alive again.

Let's not wait until it's too late. What stopped us yesterday that we won't let stop us today? What obstacle or limiting belief can we overcome by having the courage of an 11-year old?

Let today the day we become heroes.

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