Plea #22: Answering kids' questions is harder than you'd think.
To them, you're an all-knowing god, and everything you say is gospel.
I hesitate to bask in the joy of impacting these kids' lives though, because I worry about how it'll effect who they grow up to be, or whether or not my impact is as positive as I hope it is.
I like to think of myself as a decently wise and well-rounded person, but nobody's without their flaws. And I'm sure there're plenty of flaws I'm completely oblivious to.
In fact I'd wager that MOST of my flaws are completely unknown to me!
And then there's the matter of opinion.
Who am I to decide how one should or shouldn't act? How one should or shouldn't be? What's right and what's wrong?
What I think is right, can just as easily be argued to be wrong.
And who's right in the end?
Nobody!
What give's me the right to lead these children?
I think about that a lot. It's something that's troubled me for a lifetime.
Whenever I find myself spiraling over this though, I often go back to what my dearest told me many decades ago...
"If you're THIS concerned about your impact, then you're already doing a better job than the parents who decided to bring these kids into the world to begin with!"
She was partially joking of course, but I find comfort in the notion nonetheless.
I may not be the pinnacle of humanity, or a deity by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm trying my darnedest, and am, at the very least, doing a better job than the countless people who don't so much as *begin* to concern themselves with these doubts.
I guess I just gotta keep on doing my best.
That's what I want my students to do anyways.