Even boring people can change the world. This resonates strongly with me personally because the highlighted town in this commercial is my hometown. It has been the place where I have celebrated my last 35 Christmases and where I hope to celebrate many more. But this also resonates with me because ordinary people who become ordinary teachers may only end up with ordinary results while teaching.
In special education, there is no space for ordinary. Our students are given extraordinary hardships in life, and they need extraordinary supports from incredible people if they are going to make it. They need you, as amazing or uninspiring as your life has been. You don’t have to have suffered a tragic loss or experienced a great injustice to be a hero, you just have to see it in others and act.
When you wake in the morning and look in the mirror, stop seeing the limitations, the frustration, or tired eyes. Wake up and start seeing what you can be for kids, even if that means mentally putting on your teacher mask and cape and covering up your boring side. Be moved by the possibilities that can be had by your work. Your future is determined by your past only when you allow it to influence your present. Ignore the boring or ordinary you see in yourself. Be extraordinary for kids now because you can be!