Be nice
Third day of waking up with no plans. With this city heat in the apartment the only reprieve becomes the air conditioning units. I only turn on the one for the room I’m in.
I finished this young adult novel The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. One of my students brought up the book in class and another said she owned it, so somewhere back around February (I think) I borrowed the book with all intentions of reading it immediately. The sad thing is I get overwhelmed by grading papers that I push reading out of my life almost completely. My eyes are often tired at night anyway.
I knew this one English teacher who used to read an hour before she left for school in the morning. Readers make time to read. Even students who carry a full course load and music and sports find time to read for fun. I always think I’ll do it; I’ll switch up my schedule and make time to read every night. Sometimes I do and I’m thrilled. I feel such a strong need to read; but when I let it go and there’s no novel I’m entrenched in I dismiss it as I’m just too busy right now. I recently wrote a note to a student and I told her I’m going to read 100 books this summer. I realized that she won’t recognize that I’m joking because I can’t possible read that many books. But it sure would be nice.
The View from Saturday follows four sixth grade students who connect and form an academic bowl team. It’s a lovely quick read with sweet anecdotes and witty writing. The simple theme of being kind to others revealed itself throughout the text. Being nice, considerate and kind should be at the foreground of a person’s actions. It’s much easier to be nice.
The last week of school a sophomore came into the Cantor Office and told one of her teachers, who asked her how her relationship was going, that the boyfriend broke up with her via text message on the phone. And the ex-boyfriend’s sardonic reply to her valid request to talk in person about it, “What is there to talk about?” caused me to interfere in the conversation. That’s not right, I said. Who does that? But apparently this sophomore boy thought to himself, and perhaps a friend, that it was okay to end a relationship using a text message. It’s not okay ever. I’m actually appalled that this young boy could rationalize this insensitive act. But who’s there to teach him this lesson. Or why didn’t he know that instinctively?
The energy expended from being mean consumes a person much more than the kinder, softer way. And in the end karma usually gives back to the culprit what he’s given out. My mom always mentions this book she read; I think it’s called the secret of life. It’s about emitting positive energy forth into the universe because positive energy will attract more positive energy back to it. It makes sense to me. I pride myself on being nice and positive. And I surround myself with those kind of people and experiences. My life’s pretty amazing because of it.
The next novel I started is A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipul. This book is on Courtney’s reading list for her school in Switzerland. I saw it on the street for $3 and picked it up. The book list is long this summer, but we’ll see how I do.
Music: “Step it up and Go” Bob Dylan- Good As I Been To You
