I See Your Heart

Posted on October 14, 2020

I See Your Heart

#ISEEYOURHEART

Each moment of our day as we spin through space and time we are bombarded with images, actions, thoughts, and aftereffects that sometimes tries to taint our hearts. We must work to persevere, stay true to ourselves, be the best we believe ourselves to be, and yet, even our own actions are sometimes clouded in the milieu of negativity that falls over all of us like a burial pall.

Thus, it is incumbent upon each of us to see goodness, hope, love, and positive actions through this toxic cloud. We must persist in awareness of the positive intent that is in the world, and to call it out when we see it, feel it, and hear it. It is up to each of us to make palpable the positivity that is ever present in the world, even though that positivity might be felt as pain in another’s heart. It is up to us to recognize it, share it, and support its existence so that we breed more of it in our moments of time spent on this earth.

Sometimes the positivity is grand in nature, and yet, more realistically, it is through people being people, taking care of what needs to occur, and for me, is actionable in a way that supports children.With this sentiment in mind, I must tell all teachers, administrators, support staffs, those that are home with students, and the students themselves, that I see your heart!

To my teacher friends and colleagues: I see your heart each and every time you work to connect, engage, and support your students. I see your heart when you are answering parents’ emails, texts, and messages about their children’s potential success. I see your heart when you are spending billions of hours on lesson planning for virtual engagement, synchronous learning, asynchronous learning, all the while planning for a potential in-person opportunity to meet this year’s students. I see your heart when you are dog-tired, are still trying to get your technology to work so that you can connect the next day with students, and you are reaching out to the Tech Department with mixed results. I see your heart in each and every moment that you are somehow connected to your students through zoom, google classroom, canvas, texts, etc. I see your heart!

To my administrator friends and colleagues: I see your heart each and every time you take action to support your students, their grown-ups, teachers, and support staff.  I see your heart when you are working to feed students, employ systems to keep everyone safe,  ensure that everyone has access to the technology they need to make this untenable situation work, and as you fight for each and every dollar in your budget to mitigate the problems that have arisen through distance learning. I see your heart in each and every zoom meeting, team meeting, google hangout, that you are engage in with the end goal of making things better for everyone in your realm. I see your heart late at night when you are working to solve technology issues, connect with everyone to offer reassurance, touch base with each other to make sure you haven’t missed an opportunity to create access for students or your team. I see your heart!

To all of the support staff in our educational institutions: I see your heart in the care, compassion, support, and efforts that you take to keep students safe, protected, and moving forward into the unknown. I see your heart when you make that call home, send an email, post messages on the school’s webpage to try and keep everyone informed of the progress of the school. I see your heart in the care you take to use the correct cleaning supplies and protocols, complete each cleaning task as if a life depends on it, and maintain all schools for that one day when children will grace the halls. I see your heart when you await patiently for the zoom, google classroom to start, and your efforts to connect, engage, and support, yes, the student you are assigned to, but all the others who might glance your way during the meeting. I see your heart as you work to feed students, provide and support their technology needs, and work behind the scenes to provide everyone with the items they need to find some modicum of success in this current imperfect world. I see your heart!

To fellow parents, and anyone who is working to support a child or children through this time of turmoil we call distance learning: I see your heart when you work to provide an environment that is conducive to the learning process, even though none of us knows what that actually looks like these days. I see your heart when you work to stay calm, defer to teachers as they connect, engage, and instruct your children. I see your heart when you attempt to stay in contact with the teacher/s so that you can provide support, encouragement, and reassurance to your children. I see your heart when you are exhausted from trying to work at home, trying to take the place of the school system, be a good parent, teacher, and still take care of yourself. I see your heart when at the end of the day you still will gather up your brood, spend some time reading to or with them, and let them know that it was a good day. I see your heart!

To all students: I see your heart each day that you awake and are not allowed to go to school, yet, you brave another attempt at distance learning. I see you heart when you simply want to spend a little time with your best friend, and the only time you can see them is through a video screen. I see your heart when you really want to ask your teacher a question, show them your favorite pet, or laugh at one of their jokes, but your internet is not working, your un-mute button is not working, or your parent needs your laptop for work. I see your heart when you are pouring your efforts into an assignment, and yet, you can’t receive the feedback that you otherwise might from your teacher in person, or figure out a way to submit it to your teacher for review, or as it gets lost in the cloud. I see you heart as it aches to return to school, your friends, your teachers, life as we knew it, and as you hope for a better future. I see your heart!

It is far too easy to be frustrated, mad, upset, and simply angry at the entire ordeal that our children are facing, and yet, where does this get us? How does this help? It doesn’t. So, I suggest that as you go through your day that you work to see people’s hearts. Recognize the challenges they face, see their resolve, see their persistence, see their perseverance, and yes realize that this is resilience in action. Each and every time we can see someone’s heart, we can understand a little better their resolve to keep moving forward, and we each need support in doing so. If you do this I will see your heart too.

Dr. Rob Martinez is a 33-year educator. Known as Resiliency Guy Dr. Rob focuses on supporting each person that he meets with finding a little more joy in life by recognizing their personal resilience and in forging opportunities and access for children. Follow and connect with Dr. Rob through social media, and look for his new book, “Lead With Resilience”.