A Fond Farewell

It's the end of the school year. My 10th and final end-of-the-year...for at least a little while. Like I've done for several years now, we ended the year with the study of my favorite play, Thornton Wilder's classic "Our Town." Its message is timeless, namely, that life is wonderful, precious and priceless, worth celebrating every minute.

Even though I really felt that this play was what my students this year needed most, I really wondered if they would "get it." In fact, some could easily argue with me, how can a simple tale of life in the 1900s possibly connect with these students who encounter a such a wild cacophony of experience in the halls of school and in their daily lives? Some may argue that for such students only edgy, contemporary literature will do. Such concerns proved to be in vain. As always, Wilder's play was classic. As a class, we came to the conclusion that no matter how different our lives from those in the play may appear, ultimately, what we value: friendship, family, love, compassion, honor, sacrifice--the best of human nature--is universal. At the end when we talked about appreciating life and the stuff that really matters, there were tears shining in their eyes (Not every eye, mind you. Zach-in-the-back still stared out the window in utter boredom, and Greg slept through the whole thing. But if it hadn't of been that way, it wouldn't have been them--and by them, I mean the kids--that I've come love despite the madness of this year). It was just enough to let me know that the message had hit home.

Oh, how I've loved this experience. All 10 years of it. And how I've loved those students, more than 1,000 of them. Even when they didn't know I loved them. Even when I didn't know I loved them. They taught me and they changed me and, hopefully like the wood horse in The Velveteen Rabbit, they helped wear some of my edges off enough to make me real.

At the end of "Our Town", Emily Webb, the main character, pauses before returning to her grave to say good-bye to a world she's suddenly come to understand is far more precious than she ever realized. With apologies to Thornton Wilder, here's my version of her speech. Like Emily, it's time for me to say good-bye to a world I love, at least for a little while:

Good-bye, my high-school world. Good-bye to bells ringing, and chalkboards, and school supplies. Good-bye to post-its and highlighters and early mornings at the copy machine. Good-bye, Gatsby and Huck and Hester and John Proctor. Good-bye, delightful colleagues and powerful discussions on literature. Good-bye to alarm clocks, football and basketball season, faculty meetings, and the smell of newly sharpened pencils. Oh, school. How I will miss you.