History

Over the past few months I have had several "WOW" moments. It seems that I have been in the right frame of mind. Growing up, I liked history alright. It wasn't my favorite subject, but I enjoyed thinking about times past and the stories we have. However, I don't think I ever truly grasped some of the real lessons it had to offer. It was so far removed from me. My first moment came this fall on a trip to Charlottesville. I had gotten the Thomas Jefferson bug from a field trip I went on to Poplar Forest with my second graders. I became fascinated by the fact that I was standing on the soil where one of the FATHERS of our country once stood. After that, I decided to go to Monticello since I had never been and it pretty much right around the corner. While visiting, I read something that Thomas Jefferson was a deeply patriotic man. For some reason, it just hit me that he helped start a country. I mean, how crazy is that - him and some other guys just got together and thought up this amazing structure that a country should be built on. It really blows my mind. How can the things that applied back then, still be so relevant today?
I had another moment today while teaching about Native Americans. I was thinking about how incredibly intelligent and resourceful these first americans had to be. To completely live off the land and have total respect for the world around you and your place in it is inspiring to me. Their life in some ways was so much harder than we have today. The majority of the day was spent working, and working hard, just to survive. But, somehow, priorities were straight. They knew what their values were and were unwavering in teaching them to future generations as they taught by example. Life today is hard, but in a much different way. We have more free time, but somehow we make less time for our priorities. We fill up the time with things that are unimportant to avoid what truly matters. We let others tell us what is valuable instead of making up our own minds. Maybe that is our struggle, to realize that each moment is for making the most of, and while we do have the gift of time, it's how we use each one of those moments that matters.