A Meeting of Minds

"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything." 
(John Kenneth Galbraith)

"Attention, please...let's call this meeting to order!  Quiet down everybody!  We have a lot to go over this morning", Jonathan Edward said to the other committee members as they all scrambled into his office.  

Chattering self-importantly to each other, pushing to get the best seats, slurping their Starbucks, the other Jonathans tippity-tapped their laptops and impatiently waited for their chance to speak.

"So, the first item on our agenda today is an important one, and it's critical that we all agree on it.", Jonathan Edward said.  "We must decide what to write about.  How shall we make our mark today?"

Like a pack of paparazzi, the other Jonathans all began jumping up and down, waving their hands frantically and shouting "Me! Call Me! I know, I know!  Call Me!".  Jonathan Edward banged his gavel to calm the googly-eyed group, and then listened patiently to each.

Professor Jonathan (a very serious sort) harrumphed and said, "We should write something very important and profound - something erudite and educational.  We must impress our readers with something long and thoughtful.  Words of wisdom...Pearls for posterity...an epic epistle of..."

"What a crock!", Jonathan the Clown snorted, and blew a raspberry at the Professor.  "That would be SO "Snores-ville", Schnorny!  I say we just have fun!  Slap on our red noses - break out our Ooooga horns and tickly feathers - and just make people laugh!

"No, I think the good Doctor has a point", Jonathan St. Jonathan the poet sighed.  "We must touch people's hearts.  Our words should weave whimsy and wit and tickle and touch.  Let's paint pretty pictures with rhyme and verse.  Life can be our palette and pilot....oooh, I like that!  Let me write that down!"

"Short and to the point, I say!", grumped Jonathan Curmudgeon.  "Short and sweet.  Like a tweet.  Nice and neat.  Don't repeat.  Take a seat.  Complete!"

"Excuse me, if I may", Brother Jonathan the monk meekly whispered.  "Shouldn't we write something spiritual?  Something that will enlighten?  Something celestial?  Perhaps a prayer. Something to meditate on and ponder?  Something holy?"

Jonathan the Clown shot a rubber band at the monk, just missing hitting him in his saintly nose.  "Holy!  I'll give you something holey!", the Clown cackled, and threw a smelly sock at the Brother, and then blew his Ooooga horn right in his ear.  "Let's be goofy!"

"News is the only thing that matters", jeered Jonathan Journalist.  "Current events are what cut it.  Readers only want to know what you're doing - not what you're thinking.  Leave the thinking to the eggheads!"

On and on it went.  All the Jonathans talking, none of them listening to each other.  In fact, the only thing that quieted them was when Delightful Deby, Jonathan Edward's pretty secretary, would sashay into the room in her pumps and tight skirt and ask, "Would any of you boys like something hot?", and they all got tongue tied and twitchy.

Finally, Jonathan Edward had heard enough.  "Thank you all for your input.  Meeting's adjourned.  You're all dismissed."  

Shocked, the Poet and the Clown, the Curmudgeon and the Professor, the Journalist and the Monk all slammed their laptops shut, and shuffled out of the conference room, snorting and sniffling.

"I knew it was a mistake to invite all of them to make this decision", Jonathan Edward mused to himself.  "I can see now that none of them really wanted to write anything at all.  They just wanted to think about writing, and think that thinking about it was actually doing it.  But what am I going to do now?"

He then looked up and saw a little yellow Post-It note stuck on his laptop.  He picked it up and read it.

"Sit still.  Welcome the silence.  Trust your heart.  Write for you, not for others.  Let Love lead you, not the crowds."

Signed, Delightful Deby (your secret admirer)

Jonathan Edward smiled.  "Of course.  How could I have forgotten! Gotta remember to give her a promotion", he thought as he began to type.  "She's smarter than a whole room full of Jonathans...and I love those pumps".

So Jonathan Edward began to write, and wrote and wrote until he was done.

And when he was done, the voices of all of the Jonathans:  the Poet and the Clown, the Curmudgeon and the Professor, the Journalist and the Monk - had been included in what he wrote.

All in one, none bigger than the other.

And though Jonathan Edward didn't write the Great American Novel, he knew he was doing what he loved and that he was lucky to be loved.  

And Jonathan Edward and Delightful Deby lived happily ever after.

Jonathan Edward and Delightful Deby
(What would he do without her!)

The End.

Waiting For A Whisper

"I'm going to sit here,
pen in hand, until a poem
hops on my shoulder
and whispers in my ear"
(Mary Ann Schnorenberg)

This entry was inspired by my Mom - my favorite poet.  She would probably shake her head - "Tsk" - and say "Jonathan - I just scribble".  But I would tell her she has the eyes, and the voice, and the soul of a true artist.  Her "scribblings" (and she's published 3 books full of them) always move me :-)

A Shy Summer Spy

Yellow roses stand outside my window
Gently nodding in the mid-morning breeze

Little lemon petals curl and cup
Leaves stretch and strain
Trying to soak up every last drop
Of summer sunshine gold

They seem so busy being beautiful

Buds to burst
Honeybees to host
Ladybugs to look after
A world to silently watch over

They're much too busy to notice me

But every now and then, if I sit real quietly
And look, just out of the corner of my eye
I swear I catch them peeking through the window
Like little kids outside a candy store
Standing on their tippy toes

I thought I was the only curious one
Looking out the window this morning
Not realizing that other friendly faces
Were looking in at me

When our eyes meet, neither of us says anything
Too polite and proper to bother the other
But we both smile and wave and
Go back to our busy-ness

It's nice to be remembered

Thanks Mom for reminding me to just look outside my window, and to wait quietly until something hops on my shoulder and whispers "Let me in".

Love, your son
The poet

Love's Quiet Promise

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." (Michelangelo Buonarotti)

Musings on a lazy July afternoon...

Summer finally arrived around here.  June was mostly gray and damp:  enticing if I was in Ireland - not so much here!  But the warm sunshine and bright blue skies have finally arrived, and I'm far enough removed from the "Gotta go!", "Gotta do!", mindset of school to properly enjoy them.  My "raison d'etre" today has been:  "Do whatever moves you.  Just move".  Find the value in just doing what you want - doing what comes to me in the moment.  No lists.  No worries about "What should I be doing?".  But to be active - not caught up in thought, or listless like a turnip.

So I've done a little housework.  Weeded in the yard.  Took Izzy for her "morning spin" around the block.  Had a lunch date with my wife (she's the hard working member of this household in the summer!).  And now I sit here, pecking away at this entry...

So why the Michelangelo quote to begin this?  It's been in my head for several days now, sparked by something that Guy said in class last week.  This is what he said in answer to a student's question:

"Give yourself to what you love, and what you love will give itself back to you."

Love's greatest gifts are never given to the timid lover or occasional admirer.  The angels within the cold marble are never revealed to the sculptor who works only when inspired, or only as long as it's easy.

It took Michelangelo two years to carve this angel in the Basilica of San Domencio in Bologna, Italy.

Tap, tap, tap.  Brush and blow.  Tap, tap, tap.  Brush and blow.  Fingers ache.  Tap, tap, tap.

Persistence.  Surrender.  Giving oneself to what they love, even when all seems empty.  Waiting.  Waiting for Love's reply.

It took Leonardo da Vinci 4 years to paint the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo labored for two years on The Pieta

Claude Monet spent most of the last 30 years of his life, creating over 250 paintings, depicting his beloved water lilies at his home in Giverny.

All of the world's great artists have known this - this Law of reciprocal Divine Love.

"Give yourself to what you love, and what you love will give itself back to you."

Don't expect a masterpiece.  Don't wait for the "perfect idea", or the "perfect time".  Don't avoid the empty space or the blank page.

Tap, tap, tap. Scribble and peck. Write just a little bit.  Do it now.  Do it when you know you're avoiding it.  Welcome the empty space.  Embrace the blank page.  Wait silently in it and listen.

It's then that Love gently answers.  It's then that something truly beautiful is revealed.  Something I could never have predicted or imagined.  Marble can appear supple and soft.  Words can come where there was only silence.  What you love will find you if you're willing to first reach towards it.

Venus de Milo in The Louvre, Paris (seen it!)

Beauty is found in the willingness to take the journey - in the courage to patiently persist - in order to be given something that I couldn't have given myself.  But I never would have received it if I hadn't sat down and waited...and worked.

I want to remember these things as my lazy summer continues.  Who knows what I might enjoy?  A lady and her dog, and the promise of an adventure?

"Young Lady in A Boat", James Tissot (1870)

Or where the next "Pearl" may be found?

"Girl with the Pearl Earring",  Johannes Vermeer (1667)

Artists must sometimes be miners.  Always willing to dig a little deeper.  Ever patient.  

Waiting for Love's quiet promise to be fulfilled.

Endings, Beginnings

"In summer, the song sings itself." (William Carlos Williams)

It's the last day of the school year.  One final time, we teachers migrate to our classrooms.  No busyness or bustling today for most of us.  Just clearing the clutter, packing away what's precious, and taking a moment to reflect and smile, if we're lucky.  Another year ended.  Summer with its promise of renewal has finally returned.  An ending.  A beginning. 

Once again, I sit alone in my classroom.  How quiet it is.  How orderly it seems.  Serene and tranquil, like a Zen garden. 

Quite a contrast from the raucous romper room of learning this is during the year when filled with 30+ teenagers!

(Ok.  Maybe neither of these pictures really show what my classroom is like during the year!)

So, as one year...one season of my life ends...and another begins, I thought I'd write some "End of the School Year" haiku to celebrate.   Let's see what comes out.

Don't Disturb

Weary desks whisper

"Shhh...We're ready to hibernate".

School's out - summer's here

Emancipation Proclaimed

Teachers and students cheer,

"No more homework, grades, and bells!"

"Free at last!  It's June!"

A Whispered Wish

A teacher's glad prayer

"Ready to wiggle my toes!"

"Summer, renew me"

June's Chameleons

Blink, and you'll miss it.

Slacks and shoes to shorts, flip flops

Teachers unbuttoned.

Endings and beginnings.  As I get ready to turn off the lights, lock my door, and walk down the hallway for the last time this year, I'm grateful for all the school year brought me:  the hard work, the challenges shared, the laughs, the satisfaction that comes from knowing you've done something worthwhile (even though you may never really know who you've touched - and how). 

But most of all, I'm grateful for the chance to experience an ending, and a beginning.  A chance to learn and a chance to grow.  A chance to discover that which was untapped within me, and to discard that which has become old.

I found this wonderful poem by Guy Finley.  Fits nicely with my thoughts now.

Jump In

Life will fill
Whatever you empty...
And whatever you fill,
Life will empty.
That's the code;
The hidden conduct of contentment
Wrapped in mystery,
Filled with contradiction.

No sense in trying to save yourself
By holding out;
Nothing you have held onto
Has filled the hole, has it?
Then be hollow.
Let the winds of change
Play you instead of punish you.

Give it away!
Use it up!
Offer it to the Wind
And then... jump in!

August will bring its own special endings and beginnings, as well as the 2012-13 year, for it will be my last one as a full time teacher.  Who knows then what "pearls" I'll be discovering?  What Life will be asking me to "use up" or "give away"?  I look forward to all of that, but for now... time to relax... time to jump into Summer!

Saving the pink chair for my wife!

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."  (Anton Chekov)

Five Books That Taught Me

"The worth of a book is measured by what you can carry away from it." (James Bryce)

My wife and I love to read.  I knew she was "the one for me" the first time she curled up contentedly with a book - and alternated between quietly savoring each word, then bubbling over with enthusiasm as she shared a passage with me.  I remember when she was reading Laura Hillenbrand's story, Seabiscuit - An American Legend,  about the "underdog" horse that inspired Americans during the Great Depression.  When Deborah would read about one of Seabiscuit's races, she would cheer and bounce up and down on the sofa while reading as if she was trackside!  I loved it!

So, with summer nearing, I look forward to reading some more.  As I began to ponder what I might read next, I began thinking about all the books I've read in my lifetime (lots!).  Reading was something that I've always done (probably explaining why I love writing too!), and was always encouraged by my parents.

What books have influenced me?  Made an impression on me?  Inspired me?  Were just plain fun to read?  That sounded interesting to write about.

Here are five books that taught me something.  After having read them, in each case just once, they changed my view of the world, or my knowledge of something, or how I thought.  They're not in any order, other than how they came to mind (though I am actually surprised at what books popped into my head!)

1.  Case Closed:  Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, Gerald Posner

• In 1994, I had the first chance to really teach my U.S. history classes about this tragic event in modern U.S. history, and this book came out at the same time.  I knew very little about Oswald or the Warren Commission, or any of the conspiracy theories, so I picked it up.  Posner's investigation thoroughly and convincingly answered all of my questions, relying on hard evidence and science to discredit all of the conspiracy theories, and prove the sad fact that a lone "nobody", desperate for attention, could indeed alter the course of history.  His chapters explaining the "magic bullet" and erasing the "mystery" of the "grass knoll" were stone convincing.   Case Closed is a masterpiece of historical research and considered the benchmark for all other books on this topic.

2.  Animal Farm, George Orwell

• Animal Farm was the first (and only) piece of literature I ever taught in a social studies class.  I was looking to spice up a unit on Communism, so a colleague suggested this book to me.  Barely 100 pages long, I read it in an afternoon, but it completely changed my understanding of the lives of people living in the Soviet Union under the tyranny of Joseph Stalin during the 1930's and 1940's.  I had known of the events and thought I understood the history, but Orwell's allegory - telling how a sinister group of pigs led a revolution on a farm, took over, and then exploited the other naive animals on it, all in the name of "equality" - gave me a much richer understanding of it all - plus I was moved by it.  I was stirred by the courage of Snowball and Boxer, angered by the cruelty and greed of Napoleon and his cunning assistant Squealer, and saddened as the other animals are betrayed. ("All animals are equal - but some are more equal then others" was a chilling line) And when Boxer....oh wait...better not say (in case you decide to read it!).  This classic taught me the power that even a seemingly simple story has to teach a great lesson.

3.  Out West:  An American Journey, Dayton Duncan

• I randomly picked Duncan's book off my parents' vast bookshelves one day several years ago, and discovered a genre that I've loved ever since:  travelogues that also skillfully weave history throughout them.  Out West is the story of the author's retracing of the route that Lewis and Clark took in making their historic journey westward to the Pacific Ocean.  But where the Corps of Discovery walked, rode, or poled by flatboat, Duncan putters along in a Volkswagen camper (in true Schnorenberg fashion).  His vivid recounting of the exploits and thoughts of Lewis and Clark, using excerpts from their journals, was my introduction to this epic expedition.  It led me to want to read even more about these two men; to visit the places on the Oregon coast that they visited; and to be a bit of a "pioneer" in my own small way.  To this day, whenever I'm on a road trip, I think of Duncan's advice to practice "journey travel" vs. "destination travel", and remember some of his "Road Rules" (#1: "Never stop to ask for directions or look at a map - unless you're completely defeated, or have to stop for something else")

4.  Let Go And Live In the Now, Guy Finley

• Let Go And Live In the Now was the first one of Guy Finley's books that I read when I began attending classes at his Foundation 7 years ago.  It was my introduction to ideas that have changed my life.  The spiritual principles and exercises in self-awareness that he presented in this book were brand new to me.  Yet when I read them, a part of me immediately knew their truth and relevance for me.  I've read many other works of his since, and have heard hundreds of his talks, but this book is still one I turn to.  Learning how to be "a storm watcher",  or that I have a right at any moment to CHOOSE what thoughts I give my attention to, or the necessity of "walking the spiritual road alone" all came from here - as did this powerful idea I've never forgotten.  "We teach others whenever we refuse to psychologically defend ourselves...The world around us receives the lesson that what is true needs no defense and that what is false cannot be defended."  Priceless.

5.  Why We Buy:  The Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill

• Though this book was a little dry at times, and not one of my favorites, it definitely changed my understanding of marketing, and the subtle science clever retailers practice in order to increase profits.  I had no clue how everything in a store is deliberately placed (if the retailer is smart!), or done, all to make me more likely to spend money there then not:  from predicting which way I'll turn when I enter the store (right, most of the time); to what's put at eye level or lower; whether there's a chair for me to sit at a predicted spot that I'll want to sit;  to how nice the dressing room is (Women care A LOT!  Men - not so much!); even how long I will stand in line before I get impatient (about 90 seconds), and what clerks can do to "reset" my clock and put me at ease.  Everytime I walk into a store now, whether it's Macy's with my wife on a shoe shopping safari, or Fred Meyers to get milk, I remember something I learned from this book.

So, these are books that taught me something.  I look forward to writing about other books that inspired or entertained me.

Time to find my next book!

"There's nothing to match curling up with a good book, especially when there's a repair job to do around the house." (Joe Ryan)

The Most Important Lessons

"What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches."
(Karl Menninger)

It's a Tuesday morning in June.  I sit alone in my empty classroom - just me and my thoughts.  My Seniors are done and gone, eager eagles ready to flap their wings and fly off into their futures - yet also a little anxious at leaving all that has been familiar to them.  I will see them all again on Saturday at graduation, and I will smile proudly at them - shake hands with a few - as they march by.

But as I sit here at my desk, I don't feel so alone.  The rows of desks in front of me seem to be standing at attention, like eager soldiers waiting for instructions on the parade grounds.

So my mind stirs.  What are the last things I would want to tell my students before we parted?  What are the most important lessons that I hoped they learned from me?  I know that it wouldn't be the Economics we covered, the news that we discussed, or any reading, writing, or 'rithmetic that we did.

Because in my heart I know that the most important things a teacher teaches are the intangibles:  the things they model through their actions each day, and express through their attitudes and presence.  These are the true gifts that we are called to pass on to our students.  These are what will be impressed upon them and hopefully be of value to them as they soar off into the unknown.

So what are the "Pearls" I would want to offer to my students?  What would I tell them if I had just one more session with them, and I had to teach what was most important?  These four lessons are what I'd offer them, based on my own experiences, and hope they'd be as valuable to them as they have been for me.

Be Curious

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." (John Cotton Dana)

• Always be willing to learn something new.  Say "I don't know, but I want to learn" - about the world, about yourself - more often than you say "I don't want to know" or "I don't need to know".  Continue to cultivate a sense of wonder and innocence.  Don't stop reading.  Your world will expand or contract based on how curious you remain.  Learning doesn't stop at 18, or at 54, or at 80.  If you're willing to remain a student, life will always reward you with something new to see, and you will grow.

Be Humble

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."

(Benjamin Franklin)

• All of life's greatest virtues:  Patience, Compassion, Kindness, Generosity, Love - arise out of Humility:  the knowledge that we are meant to be servants of something greater than ourselves during our lives.  Be willing to give more often than you take, and to go unrecognized for doing so.  Say "I'm sorry - I was wrong" more often than you say "I was right!".  When you can see in any disappointment that Life isn't "taking something away" from you, but instead offering you something greater if only you'd surrender, then real treasures can be yours.

Be Courageous

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." (John Wayne)

• In big ways and small ways...at momentous events that are clearly turning points in your life, and in small quiet moments when you think you're all alone, Life will call on you to be courageous.  To do what you don't want to do.  To risk being seen as a failure or to be disliked.  To sail away from the shores of the comfortable and the known into the darkness, not sure that you have what it takes.  Sail away.  Take that step.  Stand tall even when trembling.  It's the only way you'll ever learn that there is inside of you something stronger than you ever would've known, just waiting to be called upon.

Be Honest

"Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world." (Thomas Carlyle)

• Being honest - with others, with yourself - will never lead you down the wrong road.  But at times it will seem the most difficult thing to do.  Inside all of us is a nature that always wants to "hide", to "take the easy way", to "pretend".  Be willing to face it.  Be unwilling to follow it.  When you remember that what is True never needs defending, and that what is False can never be defended, then you will know that there is nothing you need to fear.  All of my greatest joys, greatest discoveries, the love of my life, all became possible for me only when I was willing to be unflinchingly honest.  Don't wait.  Start making the honest path the well traveled road in your life.

As I finish writing this, the sun shines through my windows on to the desks.  They seem brighter and lighter - inspired by my final "words of wisdom"?   Perhaps not.  But maybe next year I'll share these words with my real students.  Because I know that they're really not "mine" - all of them were given to me to pass on.  I look forward to a chance to do so.  That would be the most important, and rewarding, class I'd ever teach.

Class dismissed. :-)

The Eighth Time

"Fall seven times, stand up eight." (Japanese proverb)


Time to stir once again.

"A body at rest tends to stay at rest.  A body in motion tends to stay in motion" (Newton's First Law of Motion)


I've been at rest too long, waiting for inspiration to come to me.  Waiting for it to gently whisper in my ear and give me its gifts, easily and freely.

"The road to success is dotted with many parking spaces." (Anonymous)


I've been parked too long.  Parked waiting for perfection.  Parked waiting for the "right time".  Parked in the "I'm too tired to write" zone for too long.

"Perserverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." (Newt Gingrich)


So once more into the breach.  Get up.  Move.  Write.  Don't care if it's perfect.  Don't care if it's long.  Push.  Persist.  Try.  Reach.

No excuses.  Effort is the ignition for Inspiration.  Persistence is the antidote for Complacency.

The stone doesn't move by simply wishing it gone.

"Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before." (Jacob Riis)

Tap. Tap. Tap.  Blow #57.

Ah!  Another Pearl discovered!

Let's continue digging.