Giving Thanks For the Light

You, who have given so much,
may not, even now,
know the reach of your giving.
The ripples of the caring you dropped into the mix,
a little lagniappe, no big deal
these carried over silent seas of solitude
perhaps the only words all day of acknowlegdement
that there is a person here
who needs to be considered in the process,
not just as client/student/other
but as partner in a journey.

The flashes of excitement you allowed to escape
from your otherwise professional demeanor,
these crossed canyons of apathy
and maybe for the first time
dawned a clue that emptiness and boredom
are not an inescapable fate of
aging/adulthood/responsibility
but feedback from a wisely chosen path.

Such a path is not in any job description,
it is a work of art.
In fact, it is folk art, one we spin
out of the breath of the way we live.

They asked you to teach
No one asked for your essence
Yet you responded with all that you are,
no boxes can contain your determination

They asked you to learn
No one asked for your heart
Yet you responded with all that you are,
no limits can contain your curiosity

In this season of lights, as we are awakening
to the universality of the gifts of knowing
thanks to everyone of you
who daily put yourselves in care's way
and continue
in the business of growing our future
one person at a time

Ferdi Serim
December 1, 1994
Ferdi Serim Internet: ferdi_serim@monet.prs.k12.nj.us
Computer Teacher/Coordinator
Princeton Regional Schools Phone: 609 683-4699

"the unlived life is not worth examining"