Wisdom from The Fonz

Growing up, one of the approved after school TV shows my family watched was Happy Days. Yes, it was appointment viewing, post-snack, before homework. For those of you who don't know this show, it was a sitcom that ran for eleven seasons, ostensibly about the Cunningham Family, and The Fonz (played by Henry Winkler) was the local bad boy who rode a motorcycle. Now, I do need to state that the trouble that Fonzie got into would pale in comparison to some of the situations we see on network sitcoms in the 21st Century!

Still, The Fonz was a household name and continues to act, winning an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Barry. He was on the NPR News Quiz "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me," and while interviewed for the game "Not My Job," he talked about gratitude and tenacity. Here's how Winkler describes it: 

"Tenacity allows me to get where I want to go, and gratitude prevents me from being angry along the way."

Now, I will be honest, I didn't expect that kind of insight from someone who I knew for one sound growing up: 

And yet, the more I thought about it, we can all take so much from The Fonz, especially during this very unusual time. 

We need tenacity. We are living in, perhaps, the most polarized time in our history. Even our response to the pandemic is being judged by others to be political. To wear a mask or not wear a mask, despite the science, is essentially a referendum on who you are voting for in November. In education, there has always been a healthy tension between taking care of your own children and learning with other people's children. In the era of hybrid learning, that tension has grown to an incredibly challenging level. 

Education itself is more challenging than ever. We are in a place in our country's history when it's impossible to put all children in all buildings as we have done almost every year since public education began. Trust me, teaching was hard last year before the pandemic, and this public health crisis has amplified the issues of equity that plagued us in the first place. Teachers are heroes, they were tenacious last year before the emergency school dismissal, and they are even more tenacious now. 

We need gratitude. The collective level of anxiety we are feeling causes us to not be our best selves. We hear a rumor, we worry that it might be true, and we pass it along without thinking. We are judgmental of others while hoping others won't be judgmental of us. The insidious nature of this disease - the fact that asymptomatic people can transmit it - causes us to be more cynical of others, especially of others who are not approaching it with the same level of care as we do. 

This is causing us to miss moments, moments that remind us of our humanity. I was reminded of this while at bus dismissal last week. It's usually a hectic time, and this year even more so. I rushed one student to their bus when I saw another child (kindergarten, I think) starting to cry. For a moment, I thought this little one was lost too, but that wasn't the reason she was crying. This little one cried because she saw her older sister waiting for her in front of their bus. The little one broke free from the adult holding her hand, ran to her sister, and jumped into her arms. Their tears of joy were a beautiful moment I feel privileged to have witnessed. 

So Fonzie, the tenacity we've got. And we're working on the gratitude. 

Photo courtesy of www.tinybuddha.com