The First Day of School

I remember the first day of school so well from when I was a child. The shiny new clothes complimented shiny, smiling faces. The crisp workbooks and folders that I had painstakingly labeled for ever subject as an older student; before that the crisp pencils, bottle of glue, crayons, child-safe scissors... I still love school supplies.

I think what I liked more and what I still feel now, was the possibility for a new start. A clean grade-book, a clean reputation, new teachers to begin relationships with, and new classmates with whom to make friends. It is something that continues to motivate me at the beginning of each new class. The opportunity to start fresh.

In other areas of life, including other professions. A tabla rasa doesn't occur very often and it is a shame. Wouldn't we all like to start fresh at some point? Wouldn't we like to have the chance to do it again and try it a different way? I suppose those chances exist in a presentation given twice, a report written again and again; we do always have chances to improve our daily work. However, it isn't the same as the seasonal new beginning involved in teaching. In which all parties get a new start.