Learning to Laugh

My dear friend and roommate Simone has a gig tonight.  She's playing at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and has been practicing all week for her set.  It's a delight to have live music in the house.  She has the most beautiful voice and had been rehearsing one particular song that I now have stuck in my head on a daily, if not hourly, basis.  

The first line is "Learning to laugh, as if I don't care, who overhears my curses or my prayers?" I'm glad this first line is on loop in my brain going into my first full week of school, as it is going to be used as a learning tool, or perhaps even a sanity managing tool.

A few years ago, I was told by my professor in school to learn to laugh a little bit more, not to take myself so seriously and to keep my "curses" to myself while in my first few years of teaching.  I realize that after dealing with the first three very confusing, stressful and chaotic days of trying to put together an arts department for the upper grades, learning to laugh is vital.  There have already been overheated debates, fightin' words and those who choose to walk down the path of latent unprofessionalism.   The new principal won't budge on a few issues and is holding on to her inflexibility like a child clutching the last remaining treat from her Halloween booty bag. 

I've always naturally taken the role of mediator in the lives of others and have often found myself looking to my left and right at the opposing forces that have not a clue how to work things out for themselves.   I found myself in this situation already this week and indeed had iron out some ruffled feathers.  I was able to walk away virtually unscathed, however, I made sure to share my situation with another of the arts teachers in order to completely get it off my chest. She made me laugh and we continued to laugh together at the absurdity of what was happening and what we know will continue to occur throughout the rest of the year at PS 298.  

So, thank you Simone for the loop of "Learning to Laugh".  I vow to play this song over and over in my head before every class or meeting, to take it's advice and let the ridiculousness of disorganization, unprofessionalism, and chaos morph into laughter, allowing my curses to go unheard.