Lessons Come From All Places

With all due respect to my colleagues across the globe who think they are the be all and end all of knowledge (there aren't really any that I know personally but people tell me they are out there) that reign supreme over their little fiefdoms once the door is shut, this post is about something we all need to think about - how do we CONTINUE to learn?

Sure, we can take classes such as continuing education courses, online enrichment courses or entire in graduate study courses like the one I'm currently enrolled in at The College of New Rochelle in Educational Leadership.  One of the elements of the mission statement for the program states, "Leaders never stop learning and honing their skills."

Why do we need mission statements to do this?  Shouldn't we always thrive to continue learning and growing every day?  I know as a cyclist I do.  Every since my accident, I have learned to REALLY look for ANY sign that someone is going to open a door.  The first time I got hit on my bicycle I learned never to trust that they are NOT going to make a right turn when they pass me before an intersection (because when you do trust them they make a sudden "Oh, yeah I want to go that way" and you end up as a side sticker on their vehicle).  Of course, I didn't TOTALLY learn that lesson until the second time it happened (Father's Day 2009) when a late for work Pet Shop employee turned into me as he was trying to get into the parking lot to open the shop (it was 9:02 and he was late, my bad). 

And there was the time when I was nine when I learned that when you are making a home made bow and arrow set at the lake in the middle of nowhere because you're bored of fishing, its never a good idea to make the arrow notches with the arrow (and knive blade) facing towards you - if the wood splits, the sharp (and rusty) knife could travel the four inches to your thumb.  I had ten stitches to remember that lesson.  And the time that I learned its not a good idea to ride your Texaco tanker truck on your stomach down a really large hill.  The truck looked like this;

while I looked kind of like this:


(This is not really me, but it's pretty close to what I looked like every time I rode my truck)

And you have to imagine that cute little rash over most of the front of my body and my arms.  I was only about five at the time so it took 15 or so times (and about five Texaco trucks) to have that lesson sink in but I did learn that human skin and asphalt don't mix very well. 

So my fellow practitioners of Zen-type positive thoughts, as evolving humans we need to remember that lessons can be found everywhere we look.  I myself am learning lessons on a daily basis from my students.  Indeed there are many days where I feel much more like Ralph Macchio/David Carradine than Pat Morita/Keye Luke.  My students teach me new things all the time and a case in point is my college acting class over the last two days (shout outs to Jillian, Hannah, Alex, Paige, Joe, Karthik, and Katherine).  If we are open to the messages of the universe, knowledge can come from any corner of it.

One of the things I have been learning about in the last few days came from this video that one the students in my College Theatre class showed us in his playwrights presentation.  He chose the playwright Suzanne-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog) and she was recently the keynote speaker at a national Theatre Educator's conference.  In it she had this to say;

During her interview I was struck by her words, "we need to find ways to continue and not just to survive, but to thrive" to give back to each other and not just try to get by.  I think that is a lesson that Amy and I are working on a lot this year - to make sure that we and our family experience life as we live it, maybe not every, every moment (can you tell I've been working on Our Town) but at least most of the time.  We ALL get so tied up in the day to day survival that we forget to experience and to enjoy the experience.  My students are teaching me the need to do that.  I am seeing so many of my seniors stressed out to the max this year - AT THE TENDER AGE OF 17!   They are so worried about college and admissions and resumes and auditions that they are not enjoying the every day friendships that they have.  As a result I see (and hear) too many of them "enjoying" themselves in what can best be described as "questionable" ways.

And doesn't that happen in life?  How many people come home from a stressful day at the job only to break open a beer or mix a drink (or two, or three).  Yes, I know it is their Constitutional Right (I think it comes under pursuit of happiness) but is it healthy?  Is it thriving?  Or is it just surviving?

Another lesson that has been taught to me is the reminder that theatre folk, even the young ones, are unlike any other folk I know.  ACT was approached a few days ago with a proposition.  In case you're not aware, many disturbing studies have been coming out lately showing that bullying is on the rise, including ones that show that half of high school kids admit they've been bullied.  Other people purport to tell us how to stop the bullying but how do we really get it to stop.  Others brush it off by saying its always been around and that's just the nature of kids.  However, with the rise of technology bullying is taking on cyber speed and cyber brutality.   It has even touched close to home and I remember being bullied as a child myself, often running home one of seven different routes just to avoid the five or six kids who wanted to pound on me or torment me.  This type of thing kept happening to me until I was thirteen and I finally snapped and ended up fighting one of my tormentors and breaking his cheekbone.  People left me alone after that.  However, in this day and age where the NRA has rampant members everywhere exercising their right to arm bears, I wouldn't always suggest beating up your tormentors as the way to handle the issue - especially if you happen to be in a small Southern town like I was.

Anyway, back to my story.  ACT was approached with the idea of perhaps putting our Shakespeare production on hold this year and instead bringing back a production we had done five years ago, The Laramie Project.  This would be part of a school wide initiative that would involve lots of student groups coming together to make a stand against bullying and intolerance and making a definitive statement that bullying is wrong!  As much as I like to call them "my kids" I really wasn't going to make this a unilateral decision and dictate the actions of the club - the seniors especially deserve a voice in their final show. 

So we had a meeting yesterday morning and I explained how we were asked to do this and the pros and cons but I told them to then discuss it and let our club president know their decision.  Well Jillian was tireless in making sure everyone got a voice with the result that we are going to take on this play again.  Now I can't say it will be the same production as we had with Alex Mogil, Jaimee Diamond, Shanna Ossi, Robin Sutker, Daniel DiLauro, Ally Giogio, Erin Zanfardino and all those others incredible actors but it will be amazing none the less.  I have a really talented group of actors this year and I know that they will do the memory of Matthew proud and if we change things so that just one student doesn't get bullied anymore then it will all be worth it - the chance to use our talents to make a difference.

So the more and more it looks like the cross country ride will happen (more of that in a future blog) riding to thrive and not just survive is one of the main reasons I ride and, more importantly, why I feel the need to ride my bike to help others.  I ride to keep my sanity.  I ride to figure out my life.  I ride so I can thrive.  I ride for the others who no longer can ride and for those who are no longer with us because of cancer.  I ride because by riding I can make a difference.

I'll see you on the road!