Bird Droppings June 29, 2026

How do we know we are grown up?

I will hopefully finally be getting my old school stuff sorted through. Boxes gathered through the years of teaching and training. I will be trying to get the massive piles of boxes organized and cleaned up. I spent nearly twenty-five years teaching in high school and then in an elementary setting, and always banged my head against the wall trying to figure out why students stopped learning. It seems to happen in elementary school. It is not necessarily the teachers, but a culmination of things. In today’s world, we want kids to grow up. This can stop some children from questioning and being curious. We need to let our students be children and let them play.

“The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them; he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself; he becomes wise.” Alden Nowlan

Earlier this week, a former student posted a simple line on my Facebook wall: “If you haven’t grown up by fifty, you don’t have to.” As I read this quote from Nowlan and think in terms of wisdom, not being confined to age but to affect or to understanding oneself, I think we cycle through wisdom after spending several days with my grandchildren and family. I believe children are born wise and become unwise through societal pressures.

Looking back at the quote I started with, these are amazing words, as I only recently became aware of this Canadian writer, poet, and essayist. I wish I had written or said these words. Over the years, I have noticed that students walking about high school for the first few days and being at that adolescent age begin to see the flaws and imperfections, but their perception is to enhance their world and create ripples. They see the flaws, get upset, and react negatively. Adults then reciprocate with reactions and behaviors that elicit consequences.

For some, that point of forgiveness comes soon, and for others, it may take many years after leaving home, college, marriage, and their children till forgiveness hits and adulthood, true adulthood, is realized. In some cases, but for that rare few, wisdom can come earlier, and they are wise from an early age. I find that trust follows a similar path as we move through life: we realize we cannot trust everyone, we tend to forgive and forget, and then we realize we should trust everyone.

My dear friends, as we embark on a new journey every day, try to trust and forgive two good vocabulary words for the day and seek peace and balance in your life. As I do every day, please keep all in harm’s way on your minds and your hearts and always give thanks. Namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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