...knowing how much centipedes like small, dark places.
What is something you have complete faith in? The kind of faith that would make you stand steadfast even in a barrage of discontent or discord.
Faith...true unwavering faith...is not borne from habit or experience. And this kind of faith is not easily found or held. It holds on even in the face of contradictory experiences and outcomes. It bounces back from setbacks and rebounds from regret.
As an educator or parent, did you ever stop to think how much faith you have in your world and surroundings? Your faith is immense! Your faith in the world...the people around you...the systems to which you contribute, is there and serving you even on the days you feel the most doubt. It is the children in your life who prove it. Let's take a look.
Questioning our faith in things is a natural side effect of human intellect. Basically, we question because we know too much. When I watch my dogs exude excitement each morning even before food is presented or poured, it is evident that they have faith that I will deliver their next meal. The busyness of squirrels in my yard indicates their faith that the abundance of the earth will provide for their needs as well as the needs of their new babies. We all have faith each morning that the sun will rise, so much so that we rarely, if ever consider its possible absence. Some might call these indicators of faith, taking things for granted. And while that might own a certain extent of truth, I like to think that it is our faith that allows us to take for granted that with which are endowed. How then, does this translate to education and our work with children?
For this conversation, we need to go back to the title of this post. That slipper...those gardening gloves that sat dormant all winter just inviting a spider to nest, even the shirt you plan to don this morning after reading this post...they all have the potential to be harborers of critters that will scare the bejeebers out of you. But you will slide your foot in each morning hardly contemplating the possible inhabitants, pull on those gardening gloves without considering nesting spiders, and duck your head into that shirt as you get ready for your day, assuming it is only you inside the material. Why? What gave you the faith to not peek into your slipper, shake out that shirt or dump those gloves?
You're probably expecting me to give you an answer to this litany of questions, but I honestly don't have answers today. I too blindly throw on these items without a care in the world. And I approach each day as though it will be amazing for me and those with whom I share it. Am I just naïve? Perhaps that is it. I really don't care much about the answer as to how I have such faith. I just enjoy the freedom that comes with believing in the good and positive path of this journey called life.
I will answer my first question, however. And I challenge you to do the same.
What is something you have complete faith in?
I have faith in my fellow human beings. I believe that each human being has the capacity for kindness and love. As I sit with some children who are challenged to absorb or exude kindness, I hold such love for them and the potential they contain, that my faith in them as human beings is unwavering. Is it the challenge that I like? Probably. I mean, one does not need to light a candle whose flame burns bright...but the one that has yet to be lit. But both candles have potential to bring light to our world, and the same can be said for all children. Perhaps children who have yet to find their happiness enough to be kind to others are that dark slipper. Just as I blindly slide my foot in, I optimistically insert myself in those dark places where children hide their vulnerability and soft spots. I wiggle around and test it out, waiting to see that once again, the slipper is safe, the children actually want to be loved, happy, joyful and kind. They just need someone with faith in their goodness to come along and test it out, despite the likelihood of refusal, rejection and shattered attempts looming in the dark spaces.
