Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Block 83

If I Only Had a Brain




I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while
my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.

I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le,
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts you'll be thinkin'
you could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.

Oh, I could tell you why The ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.

I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.
~lyrics from The Wizard of Oz
Thanks to the Scarecrow
from The Wizard of Oz
for the song.

Yes,
I do have a brain.
Not a bad one,
but not a 
brainy brain either.

Most of my 
friends in school
were pretty smart.
I was no slouch,
but they were the
A students.
I was the A, B 
and C student.

In retrospect,
it was the better brain 
to have as a teacher.
Students think
their teachers are all
National Honor Society types.
Straight A's,
never in trouble,
goody 2-shoes.

Not me . . 
I knew what it was like
to be lost
when a new idea
was introduced.
I swear,
I think,
at times,
my eyes actually 
rolled around my sockets
like a "googly-headed" doll
when I was trying
to comprehend
some things.

For example,
in physics,
why do I need to know
why a spring "springs back?"
It does,
and I'm glad it does,
or it wouldn't be a spring.

But,
o-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h
when I caught
onto something
my eyes lit up
like a light bulb.
Not sure,
but steam might have
come out of my ears too!

 As a teacher,
it was great to be a
"normal" student.
I think I understood
how they learned,
or why they didn't
understand something.
I think my empathy
was genuine . . . 
and I think 
 my students
knew this.

So,
for my 83rd Blessing
I am using my
normal brain
as my blessing . . . 
and who better 
to signify a brain
than the Scarecrow
from the Wizard of Oz
who badly wanted 
just a brain . . .
any kind of brain
would have made
him happy. 

Dear Lord,
Thank you for making me a normal girl from a middle class family. In my lifetime, I have known what it was like to struggle and also how it felt like not to struggle. Being average is nice . . . it lets you understand both having and not having . . . understanding and not understanding . . .
knowing that I could improve but also knowing any improvement would take more work than some and less work than others.

It's nice being average . . . it has made me fit in.

Amen
(1629)

1 comments:

Denise said...

You summed this up perfectly. I have seen brainy brains that had no common sense. And those not so brainy that had more street smarts than necessary.

Denise

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