I teach because I want the future to know about the lies. First, that none of us are, or ever have been “vessels of knowledge” or “sponges.” That the world is not a dichotomous, monotonous seesaw (Thank God). It is not a timeline of events, an equation that you can solve or a hypothesis you can test and prove. I teach you, my students, because I wish to help you see that success is not a number. Failure is not a letter. A percentage is not your value and a grade is not your worth. According to me, your English teacher, The Oxford English Dictionary is wrong; the very terms “success” and “failure” are empty cages until you conjure up in them your own definitions and free them like Angelounian birds into an open sky.
Self-acceptance will take you galaxies farther in life than any college acceptance letter. I teach to affirm your sneaky suspicion that the proverbial “real world” everyone’s talking about won’t be any LESS real because you don’t define it by what you own, the job title you hold, or whether or not you have a master’s degree, a spouse, or a business card.
I teach to unravel our world as a Jackson Pollock painting—a chaotic torrent of possibility, silenced only by ignorance and indifference. I teach to CRUSH indifference. Let us inhabit this world of not multiple, but INFINITE choice. I wish for you, my students, to experience the beautifully terrifying vibrant anomaly of a life that you create from the ashes of your own disasters. I confess, I am greedy to witness the journey as you willingly crash into this anomaly each day, with open arms, sweat on your brow, and reckless resilience.
I want to give you these messages:
1. Don’t fear the mysteries beyond you. Join them.
2. At the end of the day questions taste better than answers, wonder outweighs knowing, and education outgrows classrooms, graduations, nationalities, among other things.
Oh, and 3. Please, wander without guilt in as many directions as possible.
No matter what they tell you, wandering is progress.
I repeat: Wandering is progress.
And even when “the real world” says I’m wrong
And if your exam score says you’ve failed
Remember this: Wandering is progress and we walk together.
Kali, your words have inspired me. I am 32 and recently have been feeling renewed guilt of wandering, but now, I join you to spit in its face!
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