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<\/a><\/div>\n\u201cThis is the best celebrity meltdown ever!\u201d I overheard this remark recently while waiting in the lobby of a country club, where I had been invited to a luncheon. The middle-aged man and his wife were seated at a table nearby and laughing over actor Charlie Sheen\u2019s erratic public behavior.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s comment reminded me of a tendency I think we all harbor: taking pleasure in someone else\u2019s misfortune. At a faculty meeting, our principal showed us a clip of a video of\u00a0 educational consultant Rick Wormeli <\/a>called \u201cRedos, Retakes and Do-overs.\u201d In the video, Wormeli talks about how failing students sit in a pit. In the past, teachers have documented their deficiencies in their gradebooks and stood outside those pit, looking down, wagging their fingers and telling students they\u2019d better climb out. <\/p>\n Instead, Wormeli said, we need to climb into the pit with the student and say \u201cI\u2019ve been here before and I\u2019m going to help you get out.\u201d We need to give students the opportunity to retake tests and redo projects and papers. We need, he said, to offer them hope.<\/p>\n This approach to teaching appeals to me on many levels, including spiritual. Can we not climb into one another\u2019s pits and show one another the way out? After all, God did this for us, by sending his only Son to live among us. He suffered, not because He had to, but because He loves us.<\/p>\n Remember when Christ encountered a corrupt tax collector, the man we now know as St. Matthew? He shocked the Pharisees by spending time with him.<\/p>\n That mercy applies to us all, including famous actors and struggling students. As a teacher and as a human being, I am going to strive to climb into my neighbor\u2019s pit and be a presence.\u00a0<\/span> \u201cThis is the best celebrity meltdown ever!\u201d I overheard this remark recently while waiting in the lobby of a country club, where I had been invited to a luncheon. The middle-aged man and his wife were seated at a table nearby and laughing over actor Charlie Sheen\u2019s erratic public behavior. The man\u2019s comment reminded me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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As a high school teacher, I encounter misfortune all day long, including students who have given up on school because they think throwing in the towel is preferable to struggling. Just the other day a student told me \u201cI don\u2019t care if I fail.\u201d Sometimes I don\u2019t know how to respond. This week, I found an answer.<\/p>\n\n
<\/a>In a meditation on the Gospel of Matthew, Father Alfonse writes: \u201cHere is the mystery. Why does God even bother? Why not just pass me by, insult me, judge me now and get it over with? Why doesn\u2019t He just be God? The only answer I have to this is\u2026because He loves, and love is crazy! It knows no limits, just like sin, but its effects are everlasting. \u201cGive thanks to the Lord for he is good. His mercy endures forever!\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
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And I am going to do my best to help them climb out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n