The Tao of Pooh Revisited

As I think I reported earlier this week, I’m back at Mac High guest speaking this week. While the classes have been quiet and seemingly reluctant to discuss the William Stafford poetry I’m here to present (bummer...I always depended on my classes being willing and able to talk about anything), I’ve had fun checking in with many of my old colleagues.  One of the English teachers now on staff is a former student of mine. In fact, she was a yearbook editor for me in 2007 at this very school.  She walked into the room I was speaking today with this gift book, Pooh and the Philosophers. She said, “You gave me for a graduation present the book The Tao of Pooh, and I just wanted to give this to you.”
 
Well, that made my day.
 
I’ve thought lately about how many of the students I had in class are now out as productive citizens in society. They are doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, entrepeneurs of all kind. But the most satisfying are those who are now teachers. To me, that’s seeing it all come full circle. She is teaching English now…yes!
 

So I was thinking about the gratitude I feel in all of this, and in keeping with the wisdom of Pooh, I’ll end with a quote from the book: “Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude.”