We Shall Prevail

Although my brother and I were born and raised city boys, our father had the wisdom to send us when we had just become teenagers to work on a dairy farm upstate for the summer. He told us then that he thought it would be good for us both to learn what it is to work. He was right. Our hands very soon became calloused and we discovered muscles we never knew we had. But I also learned much more than manual labor.

I saw before me that whether a plant would wilt or thrive depended directly on the good dirt of the garden and on the attentive care of the gardeners. I very quickly became aware of all the natural wonder existing in the realness of agriculture, and that discovery in time became the foundation of my becoming a philosopher and then especially a Montessori educator.

You see, it was from my contemplation on the farm that I realized the human person was the leading edge of all natural life. And just as I witnessed that a plant was only as good as the soil it was growing in, so too the human person’s development depended much on the quality of both the family life and the school community nurturing that boy or girl.

In time, I also came to see that a Montessori learning environment is much more than a school; it is truly a learning community blending the personal striving for excellence by parents, children, and educators. The present state government is putting the financial squeeze on public schooling, but you and I know that Island Village Montessori is not just a school; we are a community committed to the excellent education of our children, and we will prevail.

You as parents and we as educators know the tender vulnerability of our children and therefore also the sacredness of our work. We all have a vital stake in what is happening here in this garden of learning – this precious place of personal development. I have long been celebrating with you that this is truly a community of transcendent education where the essence – the soul – of the child is being revealed as he or she develops. It is the same magic witnessed when we watch seemingly dead seeds buried in the soil become with sunlight, rain, and caring the wondrous reality that is a garden of peas and carrots, beets and corn.

As you can tell by seeing my smile as I greet your children every morning, being a personal part of this wondrous educational garden has been a joy in my own life – has it been a joy in your life? Seeing your smiles shining there as your children leap from your car’s open door into our life makes me think so. We reap as we sow. The true sunshine of my smile has over time created the happy fact that so very, very many of your children now greet me with the sweetest of smiles and a soft so soft sincere wish of a “Good Morning” back to me! Sometimes they even gift me with a flower from their garden.

Likewise as you may know, I have been the resident old storyteller scooting all about visiting each of the learning environments throughout the week with wisdom stories and sometimes also with the dessert of a funny joke too. This spring not only surprised me with bright flitting butterflies but also with the special joy of a shining beautiful face happily telling me almost every morning now: “Dr. Czaja – Dr. Czaja, I have a joke for you!” I wonder if she knows what a ray of sunlight she is to my old soul. The gift of a joke is the gift of a story, and a good story is a give-a-way of kindness.

And then there is the occasional Middle Schooler who having wrestled personally with mind/heart/soul over the many case-studies I have presented in my philosophy seminars of ethical decision making now comes into my office (would you believe it!) as if a resurrected Socrates and puts before me his or her own case-study: “What would you do, Dr. Czaja? What would you do?” Your teenager turning the table on me makes my day for it proves personhood has blossomed and that all our grunt gardening labor has been successful.

It is obvious Island Village has become much more than a school – we are a community that now shines a light from within – we have nothing to fear as long as we act as a community. As a community of parentcators and educators and self-directed learners, we shall prevail.

Peace,
Paul

May 22, 2011 · admin