Learning How to Be

Wade Deer, one of my facebook friends, posted this status this week, and with his permission, I'm posting it here. I love it because of how it's written, what it says, and how it addresses so many issues that educators everywhere are dealing with. Here it is:

I remember when I was 18 years old with a baby on the way and I needed a job. That was when I first started to do carpentry with my Dad. How I hated it. I knew nothing,not how the nail,how to cut with a saw and no basic knowledge of what the hell I was doing. I dreaded waking up and going to work where I was nothing more the a extra pair of hands or worse in someone's way. With time and some patience from my father I slowly started to learn. I could hammer a nail. I learned how to read a tape. The more I learned,the less I dreaded getting up to go to work.I was no longer a helper,no longer in the way. I was making a real contribution at work. Now I sit here close to 20 years later with another new baby, I love my job. The key for me was to learn how to work. Once I did that my job became easier and now I can look at all the houses I had a hand in building and be proud of the work we had done. Not many people have the ability to physically see all their hard work as a finished product. All I have to do is take drive all around this town to see houses and projects that we have done,from my first house I ever worked on to the one we just finished months ago. I had a hand in making someone's HOME,just not a house. Now I sit here and think how I started out hating it,and now I am proud of the work I do. It may never make me rich,but I like to think I am good at my job,which is why I love doing what I do.

I'm not going to blather on about what it means for me the teacher or me the parent, suffice it to say that Wade's words stopped me in my tracks. This writing speaks for itself, but if I had to pick one favourite line, it's "The key for me was to learn how to work." This man didn't just learn how to be a carpenter, he learned how to be.

Thanks for posting this, Wade.