letters to my class

Dear Problem Solvers,

When we live together, we create problems. And just as each of us individually adds to the problem, it takes all of us together to fix the problem.

In the year 1858, the city of London had a big problem. And it was a problem that has been facing humanity forever: how to safely get rid of human waste. Their current solution–flushing it into the River Thames–wasn’t working. Not only did the city smell terrible, but the waste in the river carried disease. So they had to find a solution.

It’s nice to think we’re independent and can fix everything ourselves. And we can sometimes. But poop really shows our interdependence. Because when we flush it away, it ends up somewhere else.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

One of my favorite things to watch on YouTube is darts. It sounds boring, but it’s insanely exciting. And the other day I got to thinking about the dartboard. Why are the numbers where they are?

And that sent me down a rabbit-hole. The simple story is that a carpenter in England in 1896 put the numbers where they are because he wanted big numbers next to small numbers to make the game more challenging. But it turns out you can’t understand the rise of darts over the last 120 years without thinking about the British Empire, industrialization, World Wars, and globalization.

And that’s how learning works. Every small thing is connected to everything else. And all we have to do is start looking.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

When my daughters fight they like to use the word “always.” One of them says the other is “always” in her room. Or the other one is “always” taking her stuff.

But nothing “always” happens. When they use the word “always” they’re not trying to tell me the details of what happened. They’re trying to tell me a story about the kind of person their sister is.

But we don’t get to decide that. We can disagree with what a person does. We can criticize what they say and take issue with what they believe. But we can’t decide the kind of person they are. Everyone gets to tell their own story. And we take them as they are.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I got “in trouble” from my home owners association for leaving my garbage can out on the street a few extra days. That means I got a letter telling me not to do it anymore. They even provided photographic evidence of my garbage can sitting out there alone on the curb.

Now, when you get “in trouble” you have two choices. You can get angry and complain and moan about the tyrants who unfairly rule over you. Or you can just say “Yup” and try to learn something from it.

Because we all mess up. And if we’re lucky, we have someone there to call us out on it. And if we’re smart, we follow their advice.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

For how much I put it off, you’d think that mowing the lawn is terrible. But, especially in the cooler month of May, it’s not.

But still I look for any excuse not to do it. The grass is still a little wet. Oh, I think it might rain soon. I’m not sure I have enough gas.  But when I finally pump myself up enough to do it, I actually kind of enjoy it.

We’re our own worst enemies. We know what we need to do and exactly how to do it, but sometimes it’s hard to pull that starting cord and get to it. The only thing that makes it easier is surrounding yourself with people who really enjoy the look of freshly cut grass.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Yesterday I read Little Richard and Roy’s (from Siegfried & Roy) obituaries in the newspaper and I thought how amazing it is to live in the same world as these two singularly unique people.

One was born to a family of 12 in Macon, Georgia. He grew up singing in the church choir and performing in medicine shows. Soon he would help create and popularize rock and roll and change the world.

The other was born in Germany at the end of World War II. He loved being around animals. He would revolutionize and dominate Las Vegas shows for decades.

When you look at these two people, you can’t help but believe that anyone can become anything in the world. The world is a big place, full of opportunity.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I’m here to praise useless knowledge. I’m sure you’ve all heard the question–When are we ever going to use this? But you won’t use most of the things you know, and you won’t know how to do most of the things you do.

I used to know who won the World Series every year since 1903. Talk about useless! I mean, you could just Google who won the 1975 World Series. But unlike Google, my knowledge of the Big Red Machine exists in the context of Astroturf, Watergate, Vietnam, and stagflation.

Knowledge is like a Lego block, but one with connectors on every side. You hook it to other useless knowledge blocks and create big beautiful structures that explain something about the world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

My brother has always talked about toasting his oatmeal before he boils it. I thought it seemed like an extra step, extra time, and extra dishes to wash. But during a pandemic, I have a little more time, so I tried it.

Oatmeal isn’t anything to really write home about. The vocabulary word you might use to describe it is pedestrian. Plain, dull, ordinary. So anything you can do to make it a little bit better goes a long way. So now I’ll be toasting my oats before I cook them.

A lot of life is like a morning bowl of oatmeal. Monotonous, boring, unexciting. So the extra steps we take to add some punch can make all the difference.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Teachers,

You’ll know you’re starting to get good at something when you find out that you are your own best teacher. Not to say that other people don’t have things to teach you, but if you think you know what you want and you have a rough idea of how to get it, then you’re in a good place.

Every day when I write these letters, I learn something new. Sometimes it’s something big, like what I think I might believe about learning, and other the times it’s small, like the difference between every day and everyday.

But it takes discipline. And focus. And time and effort. And, most of all, it takes a willingness to mess up, learn from it, and mess up a different way the next day.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Despite what adults probably tell you all the time about the “real world,” we all spend a lot of time in imaginary worlds. When we think about what we’ve done in the past or worry about what we’ll do in the future, we’re living in an imaginary world.

Humans are storytellers. So much of our “reality” is the story that we tell about ourselves and our world. And here’s the important thing about the story you tell about yourself: you get to be your own hero!

Life is not something that happens to us. No matter our situation, we get to tell our own story. And if we get good enough at telling that story, then it just might become “reality.”

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck