Today is my beautiful daughter’s 23rd birthday.
She is well and truly “grown up”- experiencing her first year as a High School English teacher - a capable, talented, vibrant young woman. She has managed to retain the curiosity and enthusiasm of her youth and channel it constructively to integrate it with the responsibilities of adulthood.
It is easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom of the current economic and environmental climate, to lose hope for the future, to despair of humanity if we are to read the daily (de)press reports of murder, incest, fraud and other scary stuff. Yet, as I take time to celebrate the life of this extraordinary woman, it gives me great joy and optimism for the future to know that our youth are in good hands with teachers like Stef inspiring and influencing them. There are many young adults just like Stef – perhaps they are your children, your siblings, or your employees?
Take time to listen to them, to admire them, to learn from them, and trust them. They are wise, they are energetic, and they are our future leaders.
