A Little Help From My Friends (Revisited)

Back in 2015, I wrote a blog post about having to run the school for a week by myself while the assistant principals (Juan Castillo and Diane Blackman back then) were away at a conference. Teachers pitched in to help in a lot of ways. They ran after school programs and even came to the rescue on a the fight that occurred after school. Their efforts reminded me of the Beatles' song, A Little Help From My Friends.  So here we are eight years later and so many of those familiar friends from back in 2015 are still doing all that they can to help me out in a time of need. I must admit that this week has been incredibly overwhelming in the best of ways. I've been tired every day but I've been incredibly supported by a staff that saw a need and decided to step up in every way that they knew how. So many of you recognized ways that you could be helpful and jumped into action. And in almost story tale fashion, all of this happened to take place during Teacher Appreciation Week. So while I know that Teacher Appreciation Week usually means that you get the predictable gifts of food and GC gear, please know that this year, more than any other, I sincerely appreciate you beyond those small gifts. I tell people everywhere that I go that the greatest thing we can ever teach is empathy. It's something that can only be taught through example when others see us practice it in our care for them or someone else. I was shown a lot of empathy this week and it has done my heart a lot of good. Thank you so much. I think I'll get by with a little help from my friends.

Tribe

Early settlers in what is now the United States faced many challenges. But a strange phenomenon started to happen as English settlers interacted and integrated with Native Americans. English settlers found themselves leaving their settlements and going to live with Native American groups. It kept happening over and over and almost never did Native Americans move to live with the English. The settlers found themselves psychologically linked to the Native American ways of life and seemed to prosper and prefer it. Their close-knit ways of life and focus on community was different that traditional English culutre. Hundreds of years later, modern Americans find themselves in the same situation. We see it when combat veterans return home from active duty and find it difficult to assimilate into society after having had very close bonds with others when at war. It seems that every part of our psychological makeup wants us to be in a small, close-knit community: a tribe. 

I feel like I know exactly how those settlers and veterans feel after being removed from my tribe this year. The pull toward your tribe comes from trusting the people that you are with and being comfortable in them putting trust in you. When you are away from that, there is a psychological need to find that trust again. So when I have weeks like this one when I am away, I feel releived to just talk to some of you. I appreciate those of you that rally the tribe in my absence and protect the community by supporting one another. All tribes need those that are willing to guard the customs and values. As we look to next week when we appreciate teachers, just know that I appreciate you for more than bein g educators. Thanks for being a member of our tribe and for the many ways that you contributre to the lives of all of the other tribal members. It's a great thing to come home to.