歪歪漫画

I currently have the pleasure and honor of working with a group of Ukrainian teachers as part of a Peace Corps project.

Once a week we meet over the internet early in the morning Bemidji time. They are all English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers so my role is to give them tips and activities on teaching English as a second language.

Coincidentally, teaching ESL was one of my first assignments as a teacher way, way back in 1968. Here I am teaching it again.

I was curious about how the teachers were able to teach in a war-torn country. There were no classroom strategies in teacher training about what to do if your students experience war.

Think about it. How do you begin each day?

Do you count your students to see who is with you? What do you say? What do you do when the air raid sirens sound? Where do you go? What do you do with children who feel so much stress that they are unable to think? How do teachers cope with stress? What do you do when students lose a loved one or someone close to their family?

We decided that our theme for this 10-week experience will be Creating a Positive Classroom Climate. Another name for 鈥渃limate鈥� might be wellness or goodness or hopemoreness.

One of my earlier columns, probably in the 1990s, was titled 鈥淗opemoreness.鈥� It was meant to replace 鈥渉opelessness.鈥�

Without building a climate for learning, not much learning can occur. This is why people who experience grief need time to heal.

But what if you are in a situation where healing is nearly impossible and you are continually in a state of grief and despair?

The feeling must be similar for students and teachers who experience school shootings. If there is a difference it would be the fact that in Ukraine the shootings and bombings never cease.

In both cases, however, the people are never the same. Their brains are forever altered.

The teachers said that the students are coping as best they can. Going to school takes their mind off what is happening outside the school.

All of them know someone who has been lost in the war 鈥� yes, all of them. Teachers do whatever they can to make learning an enjoyable experience. The teachers continue with their duties as if nothing has changed.

Like all good teachers, they are positive about their jobs and are dedicated to helping the students. They are eager to learn new ways. For them, hope springs eternal.

Let me repeat that 鈥� for them, hope springs eternal.

Hope springs eternal is a phrase from Alexander Pope's 1734 poem, 鈥淎n Essay on Man.鈥�

鈥淗ope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blest.
The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.鈥�

One quick interpretation of this part of the poem is that where there is life, there is hope and this hope can go on indefinitely. Wow!

Where would we be without hope?

What if the spring we hoped for never came? What if the job promotion we hoped for never happened? What if the ice never went off the lakes like we hoped it would? What if the trip to Arizona we had planned never happened? What if our kids never graduated like we hoped they would? What if the Twins have a terrible season?

Hope is everything. Without it, our lives would take on little meaning.

My wife, Kathy, has been bothered by swollen feet for many months to the point she could not wear shoes. Guess what? All of a sudden, almost overnight her feet are normal size again just like we had hoped they would be someday.

It was like a miracle. Hope keeps us in a positive world. Hope doesn鈥檛 allow negativity to upset it. Hope means positive possibilities.

Time to lighten things up a bit. I know one cute joke relating to hope.

Some scientists were studying why some students were creative and others were not.

They put one student in a room filled with all kinds of games and toys and puzzles and just a whole lot of stuff. The student just sat and sat and did nothing.

They put another student in a room with a pile of cow manure in the middle of the floor and then watched what the child did.

The child began to toss the manure at the walls and was having the greatest time. When asked what he was doing, the child said, 鈥淲ell with all that manure piled up I hoped there would be a calf in there someplace."

Hope keeps us going. It gives us something to look forward to. The opposite of hope is everlasting grief and sorrow. Life is too short to let it slip away in despair.

The Ukrainian teachers are filled with hope because they know the war will eventually end and they will still have their country. They also realize that as a teacher, it is impossible to teach without hope.

Easter is a special time of the year when hope definitely springs eternal. It is this hope that keeps us going and it is this hope that makes life worth living.

Never give up. Hope springs eternal for all of us. Happy Easter.

Riddle: Why was the Easter egg hiding? (Answer: Because it was a little chicken.) Hope prevents us from being a little chicken. Hope gives us strength.

Hope means knowing that we will achieve our goal and it will be sooner than anyone can imagine. Let鈥檚 just never give up.

John R. Eggers of Bemidji is a former university professor and area principal. He also is a writer and public speaker.