The past year went by so very fast; and yes, it was significant. As life goes, hopes and aspirations become to be less overlapping, one begins to accept what is real, eternal, factual, and familiar. You begin to feel comfortable when things happen – like always.
This ‘gray day’ brought introspection, mostly the evaluation of the PolyVol volunteer program the Assistant Principal at my old high school, Poly High, started three years ago. It so happened that this year, after the Christmas and New Year Holiday, my 10th Grade reading group failed to show any interest for the story we (the four of them and me) have been writing and reading each Wednesday since last September.
They have slipped before, but this was different. There had been signs of progress up to our last reading, last calendar year. I gave them extra room in the beginning, then it became a ‘test’ to see whom would prevail. After going probably ‘too far’ in my rebuke, logic returned, and I expressed my care and concern for their future and how life would treat them.
Being thick headed and stubborn, it took a period of reflection for me to realize this five person galaxy that is part of a complicated universe, cannot be whipped and scolded into submission that will meet ‘my’ classic description of normal that my 70 years fails to realize does not now exist.
To give more precise reason for my ‘gray day’, belief was held that after three years, this wonderful program of reading with ‘at risk’ readers, like grandfather with grandchildren at bedtime, would grow to such epic proportions that all 10 million baby-boomers would dutifully run down to their local school, for one hour once a week, and help save our failing school system, by reading aloud to struggling readers.
My ‘great vision’ has been damaged, and additional design must be reviewed. As expressed to my ‘reading team’, I will not give up; the price of failure is too high, and the cake we bake is to precious. My concentration for 2017 is not on ‘Dance Rio Rico’, the next novel, it’s on helping more kids learn to read at a level where they can pass a standardized test.
It is a good thing that we do…
Bellew - My Mind 