Humble and Kind

Admittedly, I am not a huge country music fan. And yet, there are some songs that I do really love to listen to. One was so inspirational that I wrote a blog post about it. So I guess you would have to say this is the second time that the words in a country music song have caused me to want to write. 

According to Wikipedia, it was written by Lori McKenna and first released by Tim McGraw in January 2016. The song won "Best Country Song" at the 59th Grammy Awards, "Video of the Year" at the 2016 CMT Music Awards, "Song of the Year" at the 2016 CMA Awards, and "Country Song of the Year" at the 2016 American Music Awards. Finally, it has been certified platinum and has reached number one on both the Canadian and American country music charts. 

I'm not even sure where or when I heard it first, but it has been a mainstay in my iPhone playlist ever since. Yes, my own children roll their eyes when it starts playing, but I hear them humming along. Once in a while, I even hear a lyric or two escape from their lips. They'll absolutely deny this, of course!

Humility and kindness are two things that are in desperate need these days. The reality is that school this year is so much harder than it was last year. One of the reasons I love being in educational leadership is that I don't have all the answers. That love is being tested. We are in such a reactive mode that it feels more like a game of whack-a-mole than thoughtful, deliberate leadership. 

We lurch from one crisis to the next, and I wonder if the next phone call I receive will be telling me that we have another positive case in our district. Once that call comes in, the first questions are, "What grade?" and "Are there close contacts?" The answers to both of those questions will determine our next steps and how many students and teachers will quarantine as a result. 

OK - I said that humility is desperately needed these days. I'll start: I don't have all the answers. I have found myself needing to be more empathetic than ever when a parent calls me, frustrated that their child has been sent home (again). I rely on active listening as I can in those moments, trying to be honest about what I'm hearing that parent say and repeating their frustrations. When parents get off the phone with me, I'm proud that they feel heard, even if they disagree with what I'm saying. And I'll return to where I started; I don't have all the answers. 

I also mentioned that we need kindness. During my classroom visits last week, at least four adults in my building stopped me to tell me how hard their professional (and I'm guessing their personal) world feels. After they described how challenging things were, I asked them, "What can I do?" None of them were able to articulate a tangible step I could take on their behalf. 

I began serving in education more than twenty-five years ago, hoping to make a difference in the lives of children, and now in leadership, for adults as well. I see my colleague superintendents doing contact tracing, substitute teaching, and in some cases, mowing lawns. We are trying to do our part to make the worlds we are responsible for a little bit better for the adults, who are trying to do their part to make their students' worlds a little bit better. 

It's a two-way street. Humility begets more humility. Kindness begets more kindness. Take away our titles, and we are all just humans, putting our pants on, one leg at a time, trying to manage our way through this mess. 

Don't take for granted the love this life gives you
When you get where you're going, don't forget turn back around
Help the next one in line
Always stay humble and kind. 

Photo courtesy of www.truenorthcf.org