The house is eerily quiet today. Everyone has returned to school and I sit here in a dark room hoping that they will all be good and reap the reward of an educational system filled with friends and family. I have time, after 6 weeks of a house full of noise and light and movement, to reflect on what I really want for these kids who have immersed themselves in words, facts, and numbers. What I want is simple.
I began re-reading "A Brief History of Time" or what I like to call the physicist's bible the other day. I sat in my bedroom with tears in my eyes just reading Hawking's acknowledgement pages. What most people don't know about Hawking is that he has 3 children of his own. He credits them and openly pens the book for his wife Jane ( they have since divorced). What I find in those pages is someone who thanks everyone. This book was published back in 1988 . The Stephen Hawking that we see on the page is open and kind and gracious. He thanks his students above all else. Hawking lost his voice due to a bout of pneumonia and it was a student who took time and energy to find Hawking a computer that allowed him to speak. Hawking makes it very clear that his students were reliable, considerate, and loyal. What I see when I read the first 2 pages of this great book is the kind of man who let people help him and then gave them thanks. Public thanks.
As school starts again I would hope that students and teachers learn to openly acknowledge the help they receive from one another. To build a classroom is a difficult job. To incorporate children into that classroom can sometimes seem a lost cause. The invitation to chaos and mutiny is always lurking. I hope that as my children go back to school they take pride in their work, sign their name to their work, take credit, even fighting ferociously to claim what is theirs; but I hope also that they realize how much help has been given. No man is yet an island, even though some us desperately want to be and try to be. Acknowledge your help. Appreciate the wisdom of your elders and the energy of the children.
If you want to succeed you first have to learn to listen to yourself. Be motivated by the excitement within you, but allow others to make you better and stronger. Open that door and allow others to push you farther than you could have gone alone...and then thank them publicly.
~If you don't take credit for an idea, then sadly it becomes someone else's. Fight for what is yours, then be liberal with the thanks.~Mama Shey.
