letters to my class

Dear Museumgoers,

The Museum of Nature and Science is my favorite place in Denver. They’ve collected experiences from all over the world (no, the universe!) and placed them in one building. I never leave the museum without learning something profound.

Take advantage of your own opportunity to learn something profound. Pay attention and be engaged. Ask questions and think deeply about what you learn. Museums don’t just teach us facts about the world. They show us how humans make the world known.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Coloradans,

What’s Colorado today was not always Colorado. Look at that map. See Colorado as a swirl of colors. Look at how many moves it took to make Colorado the square it is today. Throughout time, many people made claims on Colorado: indigenous peoples, Spanish, French, Americans.

Like most of the world, Colorado is a place of conflict and constant change. We have to remember that Colorado looks the way it does through pure historical happenstance. And is there a more powerful in the world?

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Nobody writes children’s books about those who protested integration. But we all remember Ruby Bridges. Nobody remembers those who look on while others on the playground are bullied. But we will remember those who stood up to cruelty. History is not kind to those who act selfishly when others are looking for fairness.

Remember that today. It’s never easy to know exactly what the right thing to do is. So let compassion be your guide.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear World-Changers,

How you do a thing is more important than what you do. It’s easy to float through life, taking it as it comes. But we need more people who live each day with purpose. That doesn’t mean they take themselves too seriously. It means whatever they do, they do it knowing it can change the world for the better. 

Don’t wait to be older and richer and more powerful to change the world. Do it today. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Most of the people you meet in this world you’ll only see once. Store clerks, pizza delivery drivers, customers, friends of friends. And after those people are gone, they won’t remember what shoes you were wearing. And they won’t remember the exact words you said. And they might not even remember your name. But they will remember if you showed kindness or not.

So we’re always prepared to show kindness to a stranger, let’s practice on each other.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck 

Dear Convincers,

The world is knowable. We can find things out. That’s the first truth that we have to believe if we want to be educated people. We can discover, we can uncover, we can deduce, we can prove. There are certain facts that we can all agree on.

From those facts, we make our own interpretations, opinions, and truths. We put them together in our own ways to make up our own minds and try to change the minds of others. But without evidence that others can see and agree with, the truth you make will never be believed.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

People are amazing. They took coal and used it to power steam locomotives in the early 1800s. It took them about another hundred years to figure out how to fly. And in about another 50 years after that, humans found a way to fly all the way to the moon. This all happened in less than 200 years.

This is your history. You are part of this story. What will your chapter be?

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

You’ll face many naysayers throughout your life: people who say you can’t do something because of where you’re from or who you are. But don’t let other people determine your destiny. Live the kind of life that makes you happy. If you do that, you’ll do your part to make the world a better place to live. But if you don’t live your own kind of life, there are lots of stories that already exist for you. And you can easily fall into one of them.

You’re only nine or ten, but you’re never too young to have big ideas about world. Let those big ideas determine the kind of life you want to live.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Yesterday we honored Martin Luther King, Jr. He fought for equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of skin color. But he also fought for the dignity of all people, regardless of where they’re from, what they do, or what they have. That’s a battle that is on going. That’s a battle that you’re going to have to continue. 

That’s a battle that you can fight everyday: treating all people with the dignity that all humans deserve, no matter what they look like, what they have, or what they do. 

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Transformers,

When I make my oatmeal in the morning I’m amazed the transformation that happens so quickly. With just a little water, heat, and time I turn dried, tasteless oats into something edible and some mornings delicious. And then I take dried roasted beans and soak them in water a short while and I have what I consider the greatest human invention!

Humans are transformers. Humans turn the sun’s rays into the electricity that powers motors and lights, plants from eons ago into the gasoline that powers are cars, and experiences from long ago and far away into texts that are available to everybody. 

What can you transform?

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck