Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 53 seconds
When I’m no longer little, I promise that I’ll remember what it felt like to be little. To be belittled. To be made to feel small.
When I’m no longer little, I promise not to use my power and wisdom to make someone else feel weak and stupid.
When I’m no longer little, I promise to be a teacher, to help people learn from their mistakes, not suffer from them.
When I’m no longer little, I promise to be a refuge, not to threaten or instill fear in the little people just because I can.
When I’m no longer little, I promise to try to get down on the ground, because that’s where all the real stuff happens.
When I’m no longer little, I promise to listen to others, because you learn so much more from them than you learn from listening to yourself.
When I’m no longer little, I promise to remember that however big I am, there is someone bigger, and for them, someone bigger than them. And He who is bigger than them all is always behind the little people 🙂
(Image: When Teddy Bear Gulliver Came to Heartlake city, it wasn’t a warm welcome – by seelensturm CC-BY via Flickr
Note: As a junior academic… I’m halfway little, I’m no longer a student, not a PhD student, I’m no longer a staff member at university but a faculty member. And yet I am still a young faculty member. I may be big in some spaces, little in others… but I hope I never let any of it get to my head, and never forget how it felt to be little… Because boy, do the big people mess up big time sometimes!
P.S. I tagged this #ccourses because even though it’s a personal rant from deep inside, it’s also kinda relevant to the idea of co-learning… 😉
I love this a lot. It makes me think of when I first started teaching and I bought a dress suit because I was not much older than the students and tried to look big, but that didn’t last long! It is so important to remember that there is that place for everyone, and to retain that sense of real value and thankfulness for what people do. Who decides what is most important anyway? When we make cookies or muffins and it is rubbish day, we get them in our lunches and the rubbish collectors get a fresh batch of whatever we bake as well. They may not have degrees (maybe they do) I don’t know and it shouldn’t matter. You have reminded me- little, big, fat, thin, short, tall, we’re all people. Thank you! 🙂
Love it Maha. Relates well to being connected and being OF more than yourself. A Canadian female comedian used to refer to herself as “small but vital.” Unstoppable.
@Bali_Maha LOVE THIS: “When I’m no longer little, I promise to be a teacher, to help people learn from their mistakes, not suffer from them”
@OnlineCrsLady 🙂 ppl forget don’t they?