Learning | Education | Parenting | Playtown | Empowerment
“How Can I Start?”… “With The Dot!”… “Huh?…”
Maybe it isn’t about looking for … rather, using what it is…
Writing isn’t arduous for her, yet it doesn’t mean she can sit down and keep words flowing constantly. Especially when she has three other homework assignments. And… one of those homework is chemistry! Not that the subject is complicated, but the teacher is a hands-off kinda teacher, “Read the chapter, and if you don’t understand, ask questions.” This… means she has to put in a bit more work.
And, no! She isn’t procrastinating with the writing, at least, not what she thinks it is. She has tried starting since two days ago, but the paper stays blank, and her heart races faster as the time tick-tock passes.
So, her last resort… a phone call!
“Mrs.Krackeit, how are you?”…
“ Sunny, what a surprise! I am okay, here in the library sorting out books.”
“Uh… can I ask you a question? Maybe it’s a silly question… so….”
“Okay, ask me that silly question! I can’t wait to think of a silly answer!” she answers with hearty laughter.
Sunny loves hearing that laughter. It gives her the courage to ask, do, say anything, and be herself! And that’s the very reason why Mrs. Krackeit has been her last resort when she feels alone, like every door closes for her.
“I am stuck with writing homework.”
“Okay… that’s not a question; that’s a statement.”
“ Can you please help me with some ideas?”
Mrs. Krackeit smiles… not hurrying to answer the question…
“Sunny, instead of thinking of an idea, why don’t you try to fill in the blank page with one little something? It can be a word, a letter, or… a punctuation.”
Sunny frowns, not understanding how a little something matters. Isn’t all writers talk about ideas? Her teacher said in class, “Think of an idea!”
Yet, Mrs. Krackeit said not to think of an idea but to fill in with one little something. She doesn’t want to give the impression that she is ungrateful, but… she needs to ask!
“ What does a word, a letter, or a punctuation do?”
“What doesn’t it do, Sunny?”
Ah… that’s Mrs. Krackeit! She seldom answers a question with a direct answer. Inviting a discussion, a conversation….
“ Well, it doesn’t make much difference between a blank page and one little word, letter, or punctuation. I still have to fill in the rest of the page with many more words, letters, and punctuations.”
“ Ah! So… my question is, “Wouldn’t you have one less letter, word, or punctuation to write afterward? Wouldn’t that be something?” Not a lot, but something!”
Sunny is quiet, thinking of what she heard… trying to understand the meaning… keeping an open mind….
“ I let you go on your adventure with your writing. I’ll talk with you soon! Remember, an adventure doesn’t start with someone looking for an idea. It starts with someone doing and doing so with everything they got.”
Sunny hangs up with a big smile…
Not because she has an idea…
Not because she has the work done…
It’s because she has a much, much more powerful strength in her…
She now knows that she “CAN”….
She puts one word on the blank page…
The word is…
“Now”…
She screenshots and texts it to Mrs. Krackeit…
Mrs. Krackeit smiles and replies with a heart emoji…
And Sunny starts to write….
This story is inspired by Peter H. Reynold’s “The Dot” and some of my students’ stories during our coaching sessions.
We all have those days… when some emotions that are ruled by self-dismissal and doubts fly hovering around us. Either ideas are not available, or even when ideas are there, they act like grasshoppers… they hop but don’t stay too long. On the other side is time… so casually yet cruelly passing with one hundred percent certainty.
I wonder if we, as adults, caretakers, parents, guardians, and educators, decided to send this simple message to ourselves and youths…
How would that make a difference, especially in our youths’ minds? How would that impact the journey of finding their identity? Trying to develop their self-confidence and self-worth? …
Had we decided to rethink our own anxiety and fear towards uncertainties of life as lessons to finding open doors of possibilities and introducing alternatives, rather than providing solutions and answers, would it make a difference to our youths?
Often, we all need just one word, maybe even one letter… or one nod, or one smile…
Then, we can start with courage… we can empower ourselves…
Wouldn’t that be a precious “dot” framed in a swirly gold frame?
I am slowly making my way back to Medium. I want to thank Mark Suroviec, M.Ed., and his publication, Playtown, for graciously creating a space for my thoughts.