Freedom of Choice

I grabbed a book from the public library's book shelf just because its colorful cover caught my eyes.  And I looked closely.  There is a beautiful young woman looking down covered by a multi-bright colored cloth; I assumed it was a traditional outfit for women.  As its subtitle shows, it was about an Afghan woman who defied her fate which was extraordinary inspiring.  The author Saima Wahab shared the journey of her life with readers quite beautifully.  It made me feel more thankful for being in the U.S. than before after reading this book.  But at a same time, I felt terrible about the living situation and women's states in Afghanistan, which made me depressed.  Really deep.  One of the reasons was this; As I became more confident in understanding about Afghanistan in depth, I wanted to share my knowledge with my 3rd graders.  Yet they are too young to understand the whole picture.  I got frustrated.  I didn't make them depressed.

When I returned it in the library, I found another book.  It's called;

My husband glanced at it on the kitchen counter and started reading.  In 15 minutes, he said, "You must read it.  It must have a kids version."  So I googled it and found the Author, Jon Gordon's site.  Then, I clicked away several times.  Now I found The Energy Bus for Kids. 

"What a wonderful book, " I thought aloud.  The driver of the Energy Bus is Joy who teaches how to stay positive and overcome challenges in life with of course, a kid friendly setting.   One phrase from a song goes, "I am a driver of the bus, I know where I'm going."  Jon Gordon invites and encourages children to visualize their life goals and dreams.  No one can stop you.  You can choose to fuel yourself with positive energy or now.  You can choose to accept bullies in your bus or not.  I was stunned.  In our country, we have choices regardless of the ages, gender, whatever you can see as differences among people.  If you make wise choices, your life would be full filled.  It totally made sense.  Then, my prior lament about the Wahab's book turned into the positive thoughts.  While I may not directly introduce terrible things about other countries right now, I can teach gratefulness of being in our country.  There were many sacrifices over the years, for example, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.  When my students visit me 10 years later, I would love to share about the suffers that some countries have been experiencing. 

The final gratitude of a day is here;  I can choose what to teach my students to prepare for their real life.  And my students, too, can learn how to make wiser choices each time.  I am very grateful to be a part of their lives.