The Flying Machine

The middle of May is upon us and as the school year nears the end, the stress is mounting.  Students are looking toward summer and staff are just searching for a break. During stressful times, it is so important for us all to understand, this too shall pass.  Hall of Fame recording artist James Taylor had a song ‘Fire and Rain’ in which he sings about several of life’s struggles. In the  third verse of the song, he sings about a band he was once in called “The Flying Machine''.  The band obviously was not successful and in the final line, he sings, “Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.” The point is that stress and failure are a part of life.  James Taylor could have given up, and we would have all missed out of decades of his iconic music. He chose to persevere and now is part of musical history. The message in all this is that as educators, we get tired, stressed, and overwhelmed at times, but our obligation is to keep hope alive for our students.  We really don’t know which ones will turn out to be the next James Taylor, but we do know they are all somebody and want to be somebody.  That is really all that needs to be said. Take some time this weekend to enjoy the outdoors. The weather will be warm and beautiful.…Go BEARS!…RiseUP! (cue James Taylor – Fire and Rain).

Until next time...