Teachers are constantly surrounded by heavy, negative emotions and circumstances, as well as positive and joyful ones. We also have our own internal baggage and struggles to deal with. Yet, somehow, some of us seem to overcome and some seem to succumb. Thinking about my own grandparents and parents, and the huge burdens they shouldered, somehow they soldiered on and for the most part, managed to keep a positive outlook on life in general, which they passed on to me. Today I recognize that I have some tough stuff going on in my life, yet I choose to nurture the good inside and outside of me. It's all I can do.
I am reading the 2017 Newbery winner, The Girl Who Drank The Moon, and there is a character who leads a nunnery and seems like a saintly person, yet she secretly feeds off of the sorrow of the townspeople around her. She actively creates adversity to keep herself youthful and alive. This made me wonder--what feeds off of sorrow (and anger--the precursor to sorrow) in our lives? Is it the darkness inside of ourselves and out there in the world? Is there some kind of cosmic darkness that feeds off of our suffering? Whatever it is, I will choose not to feed it. I will not despair. I will water the good seeds inside of me and outside of me. I will keep trying, for it is the good fight.
I am reading the 2017 Newbery winner, The Girl Who Drank The Moon, and there is a character who leads a nunnery and seems like a saintly person, yet she secretly feeds off of the sorrow of the townspeople around her. She actively creates adversity to keep herself youthful and alive. This made me wonder--what feeds off of sorrow (and anger--the precursor to sorrow) in our lives? Is it the darkness inside of ourselves and out there in the world? Is there some kind of cosmic darkness that feeds off of our suffering? Whatever it is, I will choose not to feed it. I will not despair. I will water the good seeds inside of me and outside of me. I will keep trying, for it is the good fight.