letters to my class

Dear Humans,

We cannot pick and choose when we put forth our best effort. Humans–unlike electric fans with lo, med and hi–are built with only two settings: awake or asleep. And when we’re awake, we should always do everything to the best of our abilities.

That’s not to say that everything is equally important. Some things we do in life are more important than other things. But we’ll only be at our best for the important things if we make sure we’re at our best for all the things.

Because if you start picking and choosing when we put forth our best effort, you’re going to find that your best isn’t as good as it used to be. And it’s difficult to get it back.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Generation Alpha (that’s you) is pretty good at not yucking people’s yums. For the most part, if someone is really into something, you let them have it. You like chess? Cool. You’re a big fan of K-pop? Excellent.

But it’s not always that way. Because the thing about people is that people have opinions. And people love to share them. Which they have a right to. And we have a duty to be civil and hear them.

But we also have a right to ignore them. It’s not always easy, but one thing we find as we get older is that this world is full of wonderful things and experiences. And those things are much more valuable than other people’s opinions of them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

There is no such thing as a natural disaster. Sure, the earth moves. The weather does extreme things. But it only becomes a disaster when people are in the way. And where people live is not natural at all–it’s the result of decisions we have made over time.

And it’s no coincidence that the people who are least able to weather a disaster are the ones it hits. Many of the people who died in the terrible earthquake in Turkey were refugees from the terrible civil war in Syria. And many of the buildings that collapsed in the terrible earthquake in Turkey were shoddily built because of corruption.

Nature is a powerful force. But its effect on human lives is shaped by human choices.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

We’ve been reading “Androcles and the Lion” this week. That’s the one where Andy pulls the splinter from the lion’s paw and in return the lion doesn’t eat him. 

And even though it originally referred to a Roman slave and a cruel emperor thousands of years ago, we still tell that story because the theme remains true. As they say in Latin, Sibi benefacit qui benefacit amico (He benefits himself who benefits a friend).

Stories last. No matter our current context, we can tell the same story–with a few variations–to help make sense of our lives. And here’s one secret to living the good life: know these old stories well and learn to see yourself in them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Major League Baseball is increasing the base size from 15 inches square to 18 inches square. It’s to avoid collisions between baserunners and fielders. But it might also encourage teams to steal more bases because it will shorten the distance between bases by four and a half inches.

Four and a half inches doesn’t seem like much, but if you’ve seen baseball you know that the difference between stealing second or getting tagged is often less than four and half inches. And that change might lead to other unforeseen changes.

Our world is full of little changes that lead to big things. One change leads to another and another and another. And soon reality–what we think of as normal for the current moment–becomes something completely different.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

I heard a former football player say something wise on the radio the other day. We don’t always look to gridiron giants for pearls of wisdom, but here it is: “Our nature will not make us great.”

We humans must work hard and do things we don’t want to do to become great. Discipline ourselves, challenge ourselves, and go beyond our comfort zones. Yes, we should be true to ourselves, but it’s more important that we’re true to the better selves that we’re capable of becoming.

And that’s what school (and sports) is all about–training ourselves to be better than we were yesterday. Learning things that don’t come naturally to us. Changing who we are so we’re more useful to this world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

On Sunday my family was eating ice cream cones outside in 60 degree weather.  The Sunday before that my family was huddled inside our house playing Clue because it was only 2 degrees.

The average February temperature in Denver is about 45 degrees. But the real world is all about variation. Weather changes. We keep close track of it and average it out to help us make predictions about the future. 

But–luckily, in my opinion–we don’t spend all of our time on the average. Many of our days are spent on variation–eating ice cream or playing Clue.

Today, of course, the forecasted temperature is 45 degrees.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

In France, they don’t just call French toast “toast,” they call it “pain perdu,” which translates into English as “lost bread.” On Sunday mornings I like to make French toast. Because I have a bunch of leftover bread from the week that I want to use up.

And that leftover bread I make French toast with is very lost–it’s stale, a little dried out, and not fit for a sandwich. So I soak it in a little egg and milk, fry it in butter, and top it with sweetener. 

Many of our best dishes come from that human urge to salvage something–to make something old new or to use up what we have. That’s what cooking is all about. And it’s something humans do really well. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

We get to make a lot of choices in life. So it’s important that we make good ones. But there are a lot of choices that life makes for us.

We choose where we live, but we don’t pick our neighbors. We choose where we work, but we don’t choose our coworkers. We choose who we love, but we don’t control how they change over the years. We choose to have children, but we don’t get to pick who they become in the world.

The things we can’t control are usually the best parts of life. But we’ll only realize that if we’re wise about the things we can.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

If you ever get bogged down by your own personal problems, you should read a geology book. It will remind you exactly how insignificant we are.

Earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. And it will continue to exist billions of years into the future. It was kind enough to (unknowingly) give our species a window of time to exist. And though we haven’t always been wise stewards of its resources, we have accomplished some great things.

We’ve multiplied to over 8 billion and spread all over. We’ve explored its deepest oceans and even left its atmosphere to view it from beyond. But our greatest achievement is our shared knowledge of our planet’s history. And the hard-won wisdom to see our own tiny part in it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt