For My Students

I've found that the longer I teach, the more I love my students.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't mean by that statement that I love my current students more than I love my former students.  I also don't mean by that statement that I love my actual students more than the students who have talked to me so often that they may as well have been my students.  What I mean is that the longer I am around students, the more special the sum total of all my students becomes to me.  The longer I am around students, the bigger my heart grows.

Let me be more specific.  Over the past two years, I have been blessed to come across the most extraordinary people on the planet earth.  I realize that is a bold statement, but I know it's true.  I have met students with burdens much too large for their age and stature.  I have met students with hearts twice the size of their whole bodies.  I have met students who have changed my life.

This entry is for my students.  The ones who think they have it all together.  The ones who know they don't.  The ones who refuse to ask for help in the middle of their troubles.  The ones who are begging to be heard.  The ones who want nothing more than a shoulder to lean on.  The ones who want to be that shoulder to lean on.  The ones with ambitions greater than make sense.  The ones who haven't yet made sense of their ambitions.  The loud ones.  The quiet ones.  The goofy ones.  The serious ones.  The happy ones.  The sad ones.  The hopeful ones.  The hopeless ones.  

Here's what I have to say to all of you (current, former, future students): You are important.  You are special.  You have a place in this world whether the world wants you to believe that or not.  You don't have to be any skinnier, bigger, funnier, cooler, smarter, older, taller, shorter.  You're you, and that's enough.  You're enough.  You have the power to change lives, and I can say that with confidence because you have changed mine.  If you've walked through the doors of my classroom, I am talking to you.  Yes, you.  The one who believes me right now and the one who doesn't.  Because here's the thing.  I believe in you.  With all of my heart, I believe in you.