the real things

the real things aren't the data.  they aren't the tweaking of numbers.  success is not based on simple math.  we are human beings.  the real things are much deeper than a grade.  a percent.  a spreadsheet.  a number.  we, as people, long to connect with others.  to be seen.  to be heard.  to be understood.  it is a primal need.  as deep and as necessary as food and shelter.  we can go for a time without....but going for too long, starves our psyche and causes us to act out, retreat, give up or get mad.  i see this with kids.  i see the desperate plea in them for me to see them.  to adore them.  to understand them.
maybe i see because i know how it feels?  maybe it's a gift?  i don't know.  but, i know that it's as real to me as cake on a birthday.  as salt on a margarita.  it's not some bizarre thing that is ethereal.  i feel it.  see it.  get it.  and it wears me out.  because my heart engages.  i dive in.  i choose to see.  to notice.  to build.  to give praise.  to give direction.  to train.  to reteach.  i choose to do so much more than change a letter grade.  i long to change a life.  a being.  i long to instill hope and peace.  to show gentleness, kindness and firmness.  i want to be a teacher.  not a computer.  not a reader of printouts.  i want to be aware of a whole person.  a complete being.
therein are the real things.  the things that matter.
because....who really cares if you get math but lose hope?  or learn to read, but fail to make it because you lost hope?
my job is much more complex than the simple numbers that some try to reduce it to.  they can't find a formula.  they have to invest time.  and thought.  and prayer.  they have to get in and get messy.  it's the only way.
blessings.