The Moment*

It’s funny how one moment can impact us so greatly.
One moment
Can change the way we view ourselves,
Others,
And the world we live in.

A moment.
One moment.

I have always been good with words.
I dwell on them,
Escape to them,
And most importantly, I understand them.
And they understand me.
I sometimes forget that others aren’t friends with words the way that I am…

…or maybe they just aren’t friends yet.

I love to introduce people to words.
Last year I introduced Danny to words.
He struggled at first,
As many grade two’s do,
And wanted to understand them like I do.

So together we looked,
And pondered,
And struggled.
But the words wouldn’t come to Danny.

…until one day they did
On a Tuesday morning.
After months of struggle,

A moment.
One moment

And the words were his.

In his eyes
They transformed from symbols to letters,
From letters to words,
From words to sentences,
From sentences to paragraphs,
And from paragraphs to stories.

And he could understand like I do.

I’ve taught things before,
But had never witnessed that moment.

A moment.
One moment.
THE moment

When true learning takes place.
I saw that in Danny.
And I knew that this was what I needed to do with my life.

I love words,
And I want to help people love them like I do.
I want to help others have that moment.

THE moment.

When it all comes together,
And the light bulb turns on,
And new understanding takes place.

I used to be Danny.
And it didn’t seem to matter if my light bulb turned on.
Until one day,
To one person,
It did.
And in that moment,
One moment,
I understood.

There are so many Danny’s,
And not enough light switchers.
Because that takes time,
And time is money.

…and I guess a lot of people are broke.

But Danny is everywhere.
He’s you,
He’s me,
He’s the girl next door
And the boy down the street.

He’s the child who sits in the back to hide his confusion.
He’s the girl who has learned to mimic to fake learning.
He’s the one who is different,
And the one that blends in.
He’s the one who thinks he’s stupid,
Because no one told him differently.
He’s the one in designer clothes,
And the one in patched up hand-me-downs.
He’s the one that “isn’t worth the effort”
Because “there’s no hope for him anyway”.
(I think he’s worth it.)
He’s the one who isn’t sure who he is
Because his body tells him one thing,
But his heart tells him another.
He’s the one that everyone wants to be,
And the one that everyone forgets.

He’s the one who so desperately wants to learn it,
Aches to learn it,
Needs to learn it,
But hides it behind a tough façade and pretends not to care.

Because pretending is cool when nobody cares.

…I care.

I’m watching.

I’m waiting
To help you have that moment.

A moment.
One moment.
THE moment.

…and many more.

And I can’t wait.