The Power of Anyway

simulpost with TechLearning
I have a new favorite song, Anyway, by Martina McBride that has inspired this post.

Build Anyway

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

This is about the pecan grove my husband and I spent our life savings into. Just before it sold several months a go — we lost 3,000 trees. It didn't sell. Just after we bought it in 1994, it went underwater in the flood and cut off oxygen to the roots.

But, look at Abraham Lincoln.
The love of his life died before they could be married, the woman he did marry was considered mentally deranged by many. He lost two children. He lost two jobs. HE was fired as a postmaster, for goodness sakes! He won a landmark case for a railroad company, they didn't pay him and he had to sue them to get the money. He suffered from depression. He lost every election but the one that got him elected president.

So, I shall not stop building for fear. I shall not stop teaching for fear that one of my students will not turn out right and I will somehow feel responsible. I will not stop although I may not be thanked and I may be misunderstood. I will teach anyway.

What will you build anyway?

Dream Anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

I want to be an author who makes people's lives better. My favorite author, Dale Carnegie, and his book How to Win Friends and Influence People was one of the best selling books of all times. I want to be like him — not as much about the money (although I wouldn't burn it — maybe replace my 50 year old carpet) as it is about how alive his book is today and how I read it at least once a year! He reaches across time and space and makes me a better person.

The best selling book that came out of the trash

He took his book to at least six publishers and was rejected. So, he came home and put it in the trashcan and forbid his wife to get it out of the can. Later, after he went to bed, she covered up the trash can and put it in the car. She took it to a publisher later — she set it in its trash can on the desk of the publisher, telling him that she could not get it out of the can, but that he could. She told him that it had the makings of a great book that people needed to read. It was published and continues to be printed and sold today.

Yes, I've already had several rejections of my book idea. I dream of writing books and am thrilled that I can make a daily difference through my blog. I am now working on the book that I will self publish this summer. I will write anyway.

What dream will you dream anyway?

Love Anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

I love my husband with all I have. He is a great man. We were both heartbroken when his brother walked away from a marriage of over 30 years. Yes, my husband could at some point decide to walk away, however, after almost 15 years, this is too far to turn back now. I will love with abandon and give it all I have anyway.

The thought it could all be gone in a moment or the aftermath of an automobile accident will not prohibit me from loving him. The good Lord saw fit to give me my soul mate — no matter what — I will love him anyway.

Who will you love anyway?

Sing anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea – sing it anyway

This is the part that broke my heart because it is so much wrapped up in who I have become. In the sharing of how I teach and how I am learning to teach. Of the bumps and bruises of this new thing we're all discovering together called Web 2. Of the frustration of the three steps up, two steps back of helping others discover it too. Of the frustration of being misunderstood with people thinking I must have “too much time on my hands” if I am blogging.

Knowing that should I stop blogging tomorrow, that my name will be forgotten and my blog will begin gathering dust — because that is the way it works in the blogosphere.

But I'll sing this song anyway.

While I'm here, I'll give it all I've got and all I am because it is the right thing to do.

• It is the right thing to do to connect classrooms across the world because the news media does nothing but divide us.
• It is the right thing to do to teach kids how to think and to show them that learning can be fun, challenging, and hard work all at the same time.
• It is the right thing to encourage people to live right and bring ethics into the new age of the Internet and teach that sometimes just because you can doesn't mean that you should.
• It is the right thing to share.
• It is the right thing to hope.
• It is the right thing to push forward.
• It is the right thing to speak out.
• It is the right thing to be authentic and to know that we are not cookie cutter, carbon copies of one another and that is OK, in fact, thank goodness we're different!
• It is right to speak out with kindness, professionalism and truth.

I will blog and write and sing (I do sing) anyway.

The chorus of my life

Finally, the chorus sums up who I am so I have to share it. Again, I do not expect everyone to share my views, as I've said, we're not cookie cutters.

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

So, when you feel down about all you've done. All the kids that have forgotten. All the people who've never said thank you. The dreams you wish you've done. The messes people dump in your lap.

Brush off the dust, take a moment and smile.

This is life. Life is good… it doesn't always turn out like I think it should.

But I'm going to live it, bruises and all, with all I've got…anyway.

What will you do anyway?

tag: teaching, education, inspiration, Martina McBride