THE VOICE WITHIN
Ronald M. Cabus
It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about - (Henry David Thoreau.) In our lives as educators, we will find this quote genuine. The world of teaching is a big world that requires almost everyone to be busy… Doing paper works, and the deadliest one is….COMPLAINING.
Indeed! Faculty rooms are the silent witnesses of teacher’s never ending stories of pains for piles of works. Every week, tons and tons of papers, pictures and other documentations that will serve as primary evidences that will be the requirements for assessment of teaching performances with deadliest deadlines….that is ASAP. Teachers are literally have so much pieces of papers that will later be like their closets for clothes. Yes! We all do…but behind all these, teachers are and will produce such documents.
Allow me to share my views about the “Leadership of ants.” Flipping back our history, like ants, during medieval times, there is this so called social classes…In feudalism in fact, have feudal lords, barons, and serfs. Just like ants, these people have different task in order to achieve their ultimate goal which is Survival for each day… Their work may be as heavy or difficult just like ours…but how come they work continuously …? Serfs during the time of Feudalism accepted that it is God’s gift for them…to serve their lords for as long as they can…for as long as they live. Ants are just insects but are busy in preparation for the rainy days isn’t it?
What are we busy about? Are you an administrator? How many times did you complained why your teachers are acting this way and that way? Were you busy finding the answer for this question? Are you a teacher? How many times did you secretly hated your Head Teacher or principal because of those requirements? Did you made your self busy asking them the reasons for these deadlines?
It’s not how we blurted those words…..it’s not how many times we had to have conflicts and misunderstanding we had and will still have. It’s not how many kilos of papers or evidences we will be presenting…… It is how much of our time are we willing to give…To what extend are we willing to dedicate ourselves to serve the school and the student…. These things I believe are What Matters Most.
It should not be individual fame but a collaborative success. It should be a company of positive people willing to practice co-existence along the journey no matter how tasking nor difficult it is.