letters to my class

Dear Humans,

When I see bullying, I know the person doing the bullying has the problem. Because if you bully, you’re always gonna run into a bigger bully. (In fact, you probably already have.)

Of course we intervene. Because no one should have to put up with abuse. But the best we thing we can do is help the victim, and convince ourselves and others that bullying is the exception, not the norm.

But I think we’re so afraid of bullying because when we look around our world, it seems like the bullies are doing pretty well. And maybe they do win the occasional battle. But we have to have faith that goodness and kindness will end up winning the war.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I can’t wait for Leap Day tomorrow. When the universe gives you something extra, you should cherish it. You should venerate it. And, most importantly, you should waste it.

Or at least we should think about how we spend all of our normal days. When you get something extra, you get the opportunity to think about what you already have. On Thanksgiving, we stuff ourselves with food so we’re thankful for the food we have every other day. On Christmas, we shower each other with gifts so we’re thankful for all the things we already have.

Maybe on Leap Day we get an extra 24-hours so we’re thankful for the 24-hours we’re given every other day.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Humans leave footprints wherever we go. And sometimes we leave behind messes: Burmese pythons in the Everglades, rabbits in Australia, and kudzu all over the South.

It’s important for us humans to remember the big impact we have, not only because we’ll affect the environment, but because we’ll affect ourselves. That conditions exist for us to be here (and have over 8 billion people) is a miracle. It’s best not to mess too much with miracles.

And yet we still have to live our lives. So we have to think hard about the choices we make. Not only how they’ll affect us in the short-term, but how they’ll affect people in the future.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Simple and easy seem like synonyms. But in real life, they have totally different meanings.

In school, doing the right thing is simple–treat others well, pay attention in class, and complete all of your work. But you all know that doing those simple things is never easy.

When I go to the doctor, she always gives me the same simple advice–eat well, exercise regularly, and get enough sleep. Those things are simple, but they are not easy.

We live in a big, complex world. And it’s easy to believe that there there is some scheme we can follow to outsmart it. But the truth is much simpler (and more difficult) than that.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I used to have a car whose low coolant light blink on, so I had to carry around extra coolant in the trunk and watch the level like a hawk. It was always nerve-wracking to drive that car. And for a while, that was a big problem in my life that I thought would never end.

But now I don’t even remember what color that car was. I’m two or three cars on from that one and now I have new problems in my life.

It’s important to remember that everything in life is temporary. It doesn’t feel that way at the time, but life goes on and the thing that seemed so important at the time will soon be in our rear-view mirrors.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

The other morning I was making oatmeal and trying to brew pourover coffee at the same time. The oatmeal boiled over and while I was trying to clean that up and thinking about impossibility of multi-tasking, I forgot about the coffee and overextracted it.

Now, that wasn’t such a big deal. I just added some extra cream. But it further convinced me that it’s impossible to do more than one thing at a time.

I think we multi-task because we fear we’re not enough. And, if we do just a little bit more, then we’ll prove ourselves. But, the truth is that if we bring everything we have to a task, it will always be enough.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Being a kid can be frustrating. You don’t get to be in charge of much. But that’s because our society has tried to design childhood as a time when you can focus on learning how to be responsible for yourself without all the consequences that adults have to face.

Unfortunately, we’ve failed many kids and put them in places where they’re responsible for things that they’re not ready for.

But, here at school, we try our best to protect you from those things, so you can focus on learning about who you are, about the world you’re living in, and about your place in it.

That is the main thing you’re in charge of at school.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Sometimes I worry what social media is doing to us. I know some of you say things to each other in texts and chat that spills over into the next school day. I know that people often use information to score points for their side rather than get to the truth. And I know that my own attention span has shrunk.

But last week I learned to stand my broom up on its own. So maybe it’s worth it?

Social media isn’t going anywhere. So we need to make sure we use it to be productive, safe, and kind. It gives us access to more voices and it gives us more voice, so let’s make sure we use it for good.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

My wife bought cat claw caps the other day at the pet store. A package had two sets–one pink and one black. So she put the pink ones on the girl cat and the black ones on the boy cat.

Which is kind of weird because I can never remember which one’s a boy cat and which one’s a girl cat, and I spend approximately 0% of my time thinking about our cats as boys or girls. I just call them cats.

Life often hands us a script to read and expects us to say certain things and act a certain way. Sometimes it’s helpful; but sometimes the best moments in life are when we make up our own lines.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I was at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science yesterday looking at gems and minerals. And I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Everything in those displays used to be swirling star dust, formed billions of years ago inside of stars and through star explosions. Then, that swirling dust formed to make our planet Earth. Through processes and cycles of heating, cooling, and geologic change, that star dust turned into the gems and minerals on display.

Then, most amazing of all, I left gems and minerals and looked out over the Denver skyline–all of which was made possible by humans digging up and using those minerals that just a few short billions of years ago used to be stardust.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck