It’s taken me many years to see the pattern, but I finally do:

A teacher comes along wanting to be part of my school. On the surface, they are going along with things. In every training meeting, they agree with my points and agree to implement my feedback.

But in reality, they are going their own way. Their underlying motivation for joining the staff at an alternative school is to push against the status quo, and they keep doing it even once they’re on the team. In other words, they are wary of me because I’m an administrator. I must be the enemy, part of the system they are pushing against. Therefore, they seek to subvert my authority and ingratiate themselves with the students — often without even realizing that they’re doing it.

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When I was a kid first setting out to write songs, I was terrified of copying someone else. I wanted my stuff to be totally original.

I eventually realized that no one would ever care if a teenage girl in Maine happened to steal a chord progression or a bit of melody from an established artist. Everything was fair game.

This playful attitude freed me up to create without worry. I was able to forge my own path without thinking at all about what other artists were doing.

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When we teach history, it’s easy to unwittingly imbue events with a sense of inevitability — of destiny.

After all, things happened the way they happened — the only forking paths we can create are imaginary, born of the “what ifs” that we ask ourselves.

It’s important to see that, at every step of the way, what we call history is the result of human activity. Individual human beings made choices, collectively creating movements or maintaining the status quo. Some choices are more influential than others, but change always comes from people making the decision to act.

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I came across a plaintive blog post by a struggling entrepreneur. “God,” she said to the Internet, “Why won’t you send your blessings to my business?”

Yesterday, I wrote about how we can succeed with something if we stick with it and refuse to entertain the possibility that we don’t have what it takes. But that’s about our own skill and persistence. We run into trouble when we think we can control what other people do if we just try hard enough or show up long enough…and if that is the case, controlling the actions of an almighty deity would seem to be to be off the menu as well.

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With wide-eyed innocence, a ten-year-old student shared the words her mother had used to comfort her when she had hurt herself.

“She sad there are always bad things swirling around, and sometimes they land on you.”

I was flabbergasted. I imagined a world in which evil butterflies have the power to curse hapless humans with a touch.

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Some people do “bits” every time they encounter a kid in a social situation.

You know: The whole “got your nose!” thing, or asking their favorite animal.

Maybe these people consider themselves to be “good with kids.” Others don’t, and avoid encountering a kid in a social situation.

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