Un-F the World

I find that it is so easy to focus on the negative. If my photo-journal had a "Things that really suck" theme- I would need to go buy a bigger memory card for all the photos I would be taking...but I chose the challenge of finding things that I am thankful for. I decided to make each day have a topic. Today's topic was "challenges." So I went around school trying to find something/someone that has challenged me and that I was thankful for. I came across Halil Abi (one of our workers) and I took a photo of him because he challenges me with my Turkish. He is such a nice man and I want to speak to him more which makes me want to learn more Turkish. I then went out for a walk later in the day and found an ash-tray. This one was obvious because I quit smoking 2 and half years ago and that was one of the biggest challenges I have dealt with.

Then my last two lessons of the day came up and we were discussing how we see the world. The unit is on global issues and the problems the world faces. We read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein and they decided if it was a "happy" story or a "sad" story. That shifted the conversation to "depends who you focus on- the boy or the tree." If you focus on "the boy" then it is a sad story because he is greedy and selfish. If you focus on "the tree" then it is kindness and love. I proceeded to show them photos of really ugly things in the world (wars, hunger, violence) and I also showed them beautiful things in the world (friendship, people laughing, a man giving out "free hugs"). One of the photos is a man who is part of a riot- holding a sign that reads "Un-F the world" (keep in mind that the expletive is written out). I had the students respond to what they thought about all the photos they had seen and what message did the receive from the lesson. This was one of the responses.

I made this my "thankful-challenge" moment because I think this is one of the problems I have- waiting for that "perfect moment" to do something. I almost didn't do this journal because I didn't start on January 1st. I especially love the last three lines because it makes you realize that if change needs to happen-make it happen- don't wait for a "perfect" situation or you could be waiting forever. I am thankful for that message. I often find that when I go teach my students- I walk out the one who learned something.

I spent all day looking for a challenge that has already happened and that I overcame- instead I received one. I am very thankful for that.