I wish that we could all say what we know. I wish we could be forthright and forthcoming and just say it:
this school year will be a mess. The biggest mess. The messiest mess. The hottest mess. A bubbling
volcano of molten lava spilling, churning and boiling into every aspect of our lives and our kids’ lives
kind of a mess.
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| KRAKATOA! |
It will be a mess because no one knows exactly what to do. It will be a mess because every directive
indicated will be challenged. It will be a mess because no one will agree on what is best for most. I
t will be a mess because this world is currently a mess. It will be a mess mostly because we all just want
our lives to go back to normal, but normal has changed. And maybe what we used to think of as normal
won’t be normal again for a long, long time.
It will not be because no one is trying. So very many people are trying! I know I will try. I will try to have
engaging lessons that translate over Zoom. I will try to get to know the names of 170 kids I have never
met in person and convey to them that I care. I will try to build rapport and relationships and give feedback
in a timely manner. While I do this, I will also try to get my own kids to engage in their online learning. I
will commiserate and say “yes, this sucks” and then I will be a mom and say “Get up and do it.”
And administrators will be trying. They will be trying to appease parents and teachers all while knowing that
they cannot do both. They will try to think about the kids while adhering to our state mandates that change
and change and change again. But they will be trying.
Teachers will be trying. They have been trying all summer to think of what they could do better than they did
in the last months of school. They will be trying to learn new skills and read new books to learn new things.
They will try to be positive as they are told their job will look like this, no this, no now back to this. They will
try to remember to breathe.
Parents will be trying. They will be trying to remember that this is an uncharted world and they will try to
remember that everyone is trying. I hope that they try to think about all the kids at school and not just what
is good for their own child. However, that is something that takes considerable effort and time and parents
are tired.
We are all tired. We are tired of swimming upstream, tired of treading water, tired of being afloat and adrift.
We were promised this would be over, life would be normal, and while many of us are so grateful for the things
we do have during this, we are also just tired. We are tired of the uncertainty and the misgivings and the
rethinking of things that we used to do without thinking. We are tired of the news and the people in charge
and the way things have gotten worse, and not better. We are tired of not being able to hug the people we
used to hug and we sometimes get tired of the people we are still allowed to hug.
I just want us to be honest and say “We are tired.” And I want people to listen and say “I am sorry you are tired.
We are tired too.” Then we can sigh collectively and admit we are in this for a long time and think about
how to do our best. I think part of how we can do our best is to remember that other people are trying to do
their best as well. Maybe this will give parents patience with teachers and teachers patience with parents.
And administrators. And these poor kids who don’t know which way is up.
So as school gets ready to begin again and people are already social media shouting about all that is wrong,
could we maybe just focus a tiny bit on what could be right? For me, it will be trying my best, failing more
than once, and remembering that everyone else is doing the same. Oh, and wine. Lots and lots of wine.
