What I Learned In School This Year

 What I Learned In School This Year

From The Heart Of Mr. K

July 13th 2024

I took this picture on the morning of Monday August 28th 2023. The sky was colorful as the sun came up on the first day of the new school year. Having waited for this moment since June and full of optimism, I snapped this photograph and then began walking back towards my bus to begin my run. I stopped to look back up at the sky one more time and suddenly became overwhelmed with a very uneasy feeling. What if I don’t make it through the school year? I shook it off… it was just nerves, I told myself. I’ll be fine. That feeling was oddly very strong though and seemed to come out of nowhere but still, I put it in the back of my mind and tried to ignore it.

I should have listened to it.

Friday, June 14th 2024 marked the official end of the school year. For me, however, the school year ended abruptly many weeks earlier. It’s as if the grey cloud that had been following me around for several months had suddenly spawned a violent tornado… tearing apart the foundation of everything I worked so hard to build, and leaving behind a path of destruction so devastating that nothing could ever go back to the way it was before.

The 2023-24 school year was a disaster. Sure, there were some fleeting moments of joy and sunshine sprinkled here and there… but overall, it was a dark and gloomy sequel to the bright and wonderful 2022-23 episode. A real life “Empire Strikes Back” tale if there ever was one… and that’s not too far-fetched of an exaggeration either!

It’s often during the hardest times in life that, if we’re fortunate enough to survive the storm… we can learn the most valuable lessons.

In the school of life, these are the things I learned this year…

1. Silence is golden. Anything you say (positive or negative) can and will be misconstrued, twisted around, exaggerated/embellished and used against you, no matter how good your intentions are.

2. Never trust someone in a position of authority who says to you… “I’m not speaking to you as a boss, but as a friend.” Your “friend” can and will betray you the very next day just to protect his own image in the eyes of others.

3. Longevity does not equal loyalty. The length of time you know a person is no guarantor of his/her loyalty to you. You could meet someone tomorrow who has better intentions for you than someone you’ve known for months or years.

4. You could have the support and approval of dozens of people, but all it takes is one person in a position of leadership to tear you down. This “leader” can and will tarnish your reputation without ever speaking to you or even knowing your name.

5. If your intuition tells you something is “off” about a person, place, or situation… pay attention to it! Gut instincts do not lie.

6. There are people in this world who have past trauma that they will never tell you about, but will be very quick to use it against you if you unknowingly or unintentionally “trigger” them.

7. The more dedication and commitment you give to your work, the more heavily you’ll be scrutinized. The more closely you’ll be watched and when you do make a mistake, no matter how minor, you’ll be punished far more harshly than those who only work for the paycheck.

There’s more, but these were the main ones that resonated with me the most.

I wish that I could tell you that I’ve been handling it well, but I’m not. In this post, I’ve only given you a small glimpse into the mental trauma I went through. It cut me deeper than anything I’ve ever experienced. I can now only trust that God will make it all right again.