Dear Humans,

On Monday morning I arrange a beautiful bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils, standing tall with their perfect points and pristine, bright pink erasers, wafting the sweet smell of cedar through the room.

And by Tuesday afternoon the cup is in all sorts of disarray: stubby pencils with dull points, erasers worn down to the ferrule, and the smell completely gone or covered up. 

But as much as I like the look of the Monday morning pencil cup, there’s something to be said for the spent potential in the Tuesday afternoon cup. Because though some of you sharpen pencils way more you need to, most of those pencil inches went towards something good: writing sentences about your life or the life you want, solving math problems that uncrack the mysteries of nature’s patterns, or recording observations that make you say “wow” in science class.

And that makes me like the Tuesday afternoon pencil cup a little more.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curtt