June 5
Today the new director of the Marietta Johnson School will meet with the public for the first time. The Open House begins at 7:30 and will go on until 4 P.M. Yours truly will be there pretty much for the whole thing. Yesterday I baked oatmeal cooking with nuts, raisins, dried cherries, chocolate chips -- these are a meal in themselves: Breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.
The parents and children will be there, the teachers, board members, and “Miss Leslie,” Leslie Mulcahy, who will take the reins as soon as we’re assured there will be enough students to even have a school next year.
The question I get asked sometimes is, “Why?” Why do I do it -- make cookies, make pancakes, make press releases, make phone calls, make board meetings, make Christmas presentations, make other people the director, constantly make the effort that yields so little in the way of visible results? Is it not clear to me that there are other things I could do better – that the world is waiting for me to write a real book, not another Fairhope memoir? Am I missing the point that a more aggressive, dynamic person would be better at this job? Don’t I realize that my many talents could be utilized in a way that made me famous, and maybe even rich?
Well, yes. Then why I am the one on whose shoulders the future of Marietta Johnson’s school and vision for the world rests? I wish I really knew. But what I think is this: I am here with some little tasks in front of me. The school may be in the most serious danger of closing in its history – and I may even have had something to do with that. What we did was clear out the people who had their own agendas and had no commitment to the Fairhope Organic School (see our website – I wrote it, by the way). Now it is time to fill the school up again, this time with bright, sincere children with committed, caring parents, a capable, creative faculty; and secure its future once and for all. I’ve thought I had the handle before; I think I have it now. I do know I’ve got a platter full of delicious cookies, a heart full of good intentions, and that they’re waiting for me right now up there on the campus to take charge of the day, troubleshoot if there is a problem, run an errand if something is needed.
I do it all because it’s worth doing. I do it because nobody else is. I do it because I think it will change this little piece of the world for the better.
Later on, I’ll let you know how it comes out.
3 comments:
Cookies! That's difference between the real good guys, those who make a difference and those who talk about being the good guys, who think they make a difference. I'll take the cookie makers and pancake bakers any day, over all the Dali Lamas, presidents, prime ministers, philosophers and pundits, in the world. It is the volunteer, those who give freely the most precious resource of all, a part of their limited time on earth, to make their part of existence a little bit better and for no better reason other than it has to be done, they are the real persons to admire, respect, emulate and believe in. In the end it is the cookie makers who do the real work of world and feed the real aspirations of civilization. Quite deliciously as it sounds. I’m proud to know you ff.
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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"Now it is time to fill the school up again, this time with bright, sincere children with committed, caring parents, a capable, creative faculty; and secure its future once and for all".
This statement is so true. I am convinced you are one of the few people who can actually make this happen. Do not get discouraged with all of your dreams not coming true (as with the new teacher) - progress has been made this year and continued/increased PR and a proactive mindset will turn the tide. Catching up on your blog after a too-long absence and enjoying the posts.
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