Resilient - Not wishing for what was - but what what can be.

re•sil•ient

Pronunciation: \ ri-zil-yuh nt \
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin resilient- of resilīre to spring back
Date: 1635–45
1. springing back; rebounding.
2. returning to the original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched.
3. recovering readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyant.

I have not lost hope. Not in myself, in my skills, in my children, in my students, in my colleagues, in my God. I am resilient. I am strong. I have learned to feel, to let go, to abandon myself to something greater. How I love a paradox! It is my very weakness, my very pain that demonstrates my strength.

At work, there are more challenges ahead. Changes that will require stamina, creativity, flexibility, patience, and perseverance. There is little time to whine about how I wish things could be. There is an urgency pressing to create something new.

I am humbled by the resiliency of the children. I had my own odd childhood, as so many of us did. However, it did not contain the physical and emotional wounds some of my students have lived through and face even today. Yet they come. They ask. They challenge. They cry. They stumble. They discover. They share. They learn. They argue. They laugh. They hunger. They come. They come to us and we must meet them where they are.

I have not lost hope. It is there in the compassion of the teachers. It rises from the laughter and from within the struggles of my students. It is there in the vision and belief that we can create something different, something better, something stronger.

We will do more with less. We will complain and argue, but we will come prepared. We have not lost hope. We are resilient.

What Worked for Me Today
Staying Grounded in Today
Acknowledging that I can feel conflicting emotions but knowing that I do not have to be all of one or the other.

Minutia
We are not alone in facing significant budget cuts.
Lake Oswego needs to Cut $5 - 8 Million
Lake Oswego cut 16 teachers last year and are considering closing a school this year.
http://news.opb.org/article/47049-cities-schools-look-work-together-solve-funding-woes/

Gaston May Close the Entire District
http://www.oregonlive.com/forest-grove/index.ssf/2011/01/gaston_school_district_officials_to_detail_potential_2011-12_budget_cuts_seek_final_word_on_consolid.html


Roseburg Needs to Cut $3 million
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20101219/NEWS/101219756/0/WAP&parentprofile=1061

Eugene Needs to Cut as Much as $35 million
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5976430/eugene_oregon_local_schools_hit_hard.html?cat=8

North Clackamas faces $10 Million Cut
David Dougas $12 Million Cut
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Oregon-school-districts-again-face-budget-pinch-114214199.html