"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."—Kahlil Gibran,The Prophet
This is my last week of the quarter and then I'm on break for two weeks. I have to say that I really look forward to the time off as it was a heavy quarter of teaching for me. This summer I plan to only teach one class in order to give myself time to work on other projects.
There were many occasions, during the quarter, when I wondered how I'd make it through the day. Teaching classes back to back for 5 hours with very little down time was really challenging. I did my best and gave the students all that I had.
Now it's the end. Today I spent my class time proctoring a state test and then I met students individually to go over their tests and get them registered for next quarter.
It's really hard to gauge, at times, if everything I'm doing is having any impact. I think we are all our own worst critics at times, so I was happily surprised to hear all the positive feedback from my students today about my class.
Some students wrote letters, some gave gifts and some verbally let me know how much they really appreciated my class and me. I really did not expect any of this and that made it all the more special. Here's a letter from one of my students today:
Not perfect, but heartfelt!
What I realized is that if you give your full attention to whatever you are doing, it will not go unnoticed. You may not realize the impact you have on people and your surroundings, but the things you do are important.
This appreciation from my students, which came in many different forms, was an unexpected gift. These gifts are treasures that make me want to keep on giving.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”—Kahlil Gibran
I will admit that I don't always have time to read all the blogs I want to read. There are so many inspiring blogs and people out there and I'm happy to have met you all in the blogosphere.
Today is a very busy day for me. I have a split shift at the college and need to go back in about an hour to teach my last class.
When I got home, I posted comments left on my last post and, in that process, discovered a new blog. Whenever someone new stops by here, I try to make a point of visiting them as well. I only had time to read one or two posts and the two I read on this person's blog touched my heart.
I think that's what it's all about really. We don't need to change the entire world, but if we can do a few things to make the world a better place for a few people and ourselves, I think that is so important.
The blog I discovered today is called Blue O'Connell's Musical Adventures and the two posts I read were called "An Unexpected Gift" and "Man's Best Friend". They were simple, short posts, but they were so heartfelt. Blue is a Music Practitioner and plays music in nursing homes and for the intellectually disabled. Her blog is very simple and she has just a handful of followers. It would make my day if you'd all pay her a visit.
She talks about how we often don't know what a difference we are making in other people's lives. We may feel like we are making no difference at all and that what we do is unimportant. The truth is, every little thing we do is so important and can have such a tremendous impact.
I teach English as a Second Language. I have over 100 students from over 30 countries in my classes. My students are all immigrants and refugees and I know they need English so desperately in order to make a life in a new place.
I often don't think about the impact I might make on a student until they let me know. Sometimes a student will do this by preparing a dish from their country or making a gift by hand. It's always such a surprise to receive these gestures of appreciation and I often feel like it's too much.
I'm reminded, through Blue's blog, that part of the process of giving is also being able to receive.
Each one of us, in our daily activities and gestures, can make a difference in other people's lives. We are all in this together. What we each do is so important.
*Special Note: Blue is giving away a copy of her CD "Choose the Sky" to those who visit her blog and leave a comment. I visited her website at blueoconnell.com and learned that she is profoundly deaf and had to have cochlear implant surgery. This makes her beautiful, sweet song and voice even more inspiring. Here's the song "Choose the Sky" on YouTube:
Have you read any new blog posts or blogs that have touched you or made you feel grateful or appreciative? Has any kind gesture touched you today?
