Have you read my previous post?
http://thenext15000days.blogspot.com/2022/06/done-skipping-life.html
I wanted to share with you the moment when I decided to attend the anniversary.
I have a friend who has a wonderful 10-year-old son. He got cancer when he was 3 years old and for many months it looked that he won't survive. Luckily we have good hospitals and they were able to cure him. He is completely healthy now. But all the drugs left him with some minor learning difficulties.
He has a silly teacher whose hobby is to make a special list: she sorts all her 25 pupils according to the average grades in the school year. This perfect little boy always comes in the last third of the list.
I heard his mom encourage him before one of the tests: "You are competing only with yourself, not with the others."
Exactly!
I though to myself - if this brave little boy has the courage to go to the class every single day, I can have the courage to attend the anniversary once a year.
***
What made me happy today: fresh cherries picked up by my mom.
Klara, that's beautiful! If only we all competed only with ourselves, our lives would be more authentic. How wonderful that he gave you the courage to go to the anniversary.
ReplyDeleteAnd mmmmm, fresh cherries. You are lucky!
What a terrible practice for that teacher to undertake! Those are wise words from his mom, though. So many attributes are not quantifiably measurable. I hope that boy gets to explore and experience success in other areas. Academic achievement isn't everything by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cherries, yum!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry for your friend's little boy. But Phoenix is right: the grades you get in school won't mean that much anymore later on in life. You can be very successful in your profession even if school wasn't your strength and vice-versa!
Great philosophy -- I will keep this in mind the next time I need motivation to tackle a difficult situation xx
ReplyDeleteGood heavens, that teacher sounds like the ones I had 50 years ago... I would have hoped things would have improved since then...! Thank goodness for that wonderful mother, though! (And yours, for those cherries -- they look delicious!)
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