letters to my class

Dear Students,

A new year offers a chance for a new start. Many people make resolutions–eat healthier, exercise more, read more books. But they often give up before January is even over.

That’s because we’re not very good at making ourselves do things that we’re not very good at. We think, if we try really hard, we’ll be able to do it. But we never take the time to actually learn how to do it.

So instead of a resolution, I want you to think about what you want to learn. Maybe it’s juggling. Maybe it’s playing an instrument. Maybe it’s something as simple as whistling with your fingers. No matter what the skill is, the process of learning it makes us better humans.

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

The news of the world can be overwhelming–disasters, famine, war, poverty. It’s tempting to turn it off and forget about it. And if we did, we might not notice much difference in our lives. At least at first.

But we’re part of the world. And the same forces that make things happen in the Xinjiang region of China are also at work in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Learning about them is essential. And though we’ll never be able to control those forces, we might learn to live with them, and we we might learn to ease a little of the world’s suffering.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Practitioners,

I’ve been playing guitar for so long that sometimes my fingers just kind of know where to go. Sometimes when I think of a sound I want to play, I just play it and it comes out right. And man, that feels pretty good.

It’s not like this is rocket surgery. I’ve been playing the same type of simple music over and over for thousands of hours. The songs are all very similar. I’ve just been able to pick up the patterns and structures in them.

But still, it feels good to get good at something. And it’s made those thousands of hours of practice and failure worth it. I look forward to thousands more.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

My grandpa would be 96 today. He achieved a lot in his life: served in World War II, raised four children, owned his own grocery store, and ran organizations that helped the sick and elderly. Of course, I didn’t know all this when I was growing up. To me, he was just grandpa, and what I remember is that he always had a smile on his face.

And when people were talking about him at his funeral, that’s what they remembered too. Everyone talked about how kind he was to everybody, no matter who they were or what they had.

It’s nice to accomplish things in this life. But how you treat people will be your lasting legacy.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

We’re learning some crazy stuff about the physics of sound. To think that the most beautiful music is nothing but various vibrations disrupting the air molecules that travel towards these tiny little bones in our ears is pretty incredible.

And it’s even more incredible to think about how people didn’t have to know exactly how sound worked to make beautiful music. As long as people have been people, we’ve been entertaining each other by organizing noises into something we call music.

It just goes to show: You don’t have to totally understand something to make it into something beautiful.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I listened to an interview with a traffic expert yesterday while I sat in traffic, and he talked about how traffic jams happen. One person blocks an intersection because they didn’t want to wait for a light and then that leads to another blocked intersection and another and another until the jam wraps all the way back around to the front of the original intersection blocker.

So while that person thought they were saving themselves time, because of the way traffic works, they were creating a bigger problem for themselves.

We’re all connected–in complex and unseen ways.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Friends,

The kindest, smartest, and best people I know are friendly with everybody. They don’t just hang out with a small circle of people who look like them and act like them; they hang out with everybody, because they know everyone has something to teach them.

Friends are important. Friends will encourage you and teach you things and help you get out of trouble. And friends might also help you get into trouble. That’s why choosing who you spend your time with is so important.

What you do with your time now and who you do it with will determine who are you in the future. Choose wisely.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

There’s a reason your mother won’t let you eat candy for supper. The first taste is sweet, but there’s not much beyond that. It isn’t filling. It doesn’t last.

Some of my favorite things in life are those things that I had to learn to like. The first taste of them might have been bitter, strange, or unpleasant, but over time, with a little effort, I learned to appreciate them. And I found out that they are the things that last.

Look for the things that last.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Navigators,

When early navigators traveled the wide world and open seas, they couldn’t look around them to find their way–their surroundings were foreign or they were in an expanse of endless sea. They couldn’t look down–the dusty road and the salty sea look pretty much the same the world over.

So they looked up to the heavens. That was their constant as they traveled this world. And it’s strange–the best way to navigate this world was to use the sparkling lights of worlds trillions of miles away.

Often times the best answers are not right in front of us. Often times the best answers aren’t even of this world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

Life is complex beyond our understanding. We estimate that there’s been about 100 billion people alive in the history of the humanity, and each of those people have something to say about life and how it should be lived.

The only way to deal with such complexity and uncertainty is to hold to a few simple rules for ourselves. Treat people well. Do your best in everything you do. And know that you have some people in your life who really care about you. I can’t think of any better way of living than that.

And that’s something I can be certain of.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck