Those who can't...

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach. 

_George Bernard Shaw, 1903.

I’m afraid that is true with me.  That scandalous slur is meant to degrade teachers and mock the entire profession.  Thanks GB. Admittedly, you might be right in my case.  

I “do” nothing. But I do nothing really well.  Honestly, I have no skills. I don’t cook well, I don’t sew well, I’m a terrible house-keeper (whatever that means).  I’m not a good driver, writer, artist, or builder.  I don’t do fashion, nails or hair, well.  Oh, I can copy a style, and stick with it, but it’s not what I “do”.  I don’t speak another language. I’m not a scientist, mathematician or engineer.  This is not self-deprecation, this is a testimonial. 

I’m scattered, quirky, weird and crazy, cantankerous and argumentative- but those are not a “do-ing”, more of a be-ing.  I guess reading, researching and being curious can-be-a-do, but I don’t think that is what Shaw had in mind.  It’s also less acceptable to answer “I watched clouds,” to the question, “what did you do today?” 

But what if teaching is what I “do”? Or did? For me, it was the doing of teaching that was the discipline in and of itself.  It was my art form.  In teaching- I was a stand up comedic actor, a storyteller, a listener, a mother-figure, a historian, a disciplinarian, an advocate, a revolutionary, a student, a sage… of sorts.  

3-5 shows a day, 5 days a week.  29.4 years. 

There is no data or detailed algorithms to watching a student ‘click’. Witnessing a person have an insight, an epiphany- seeing a facial expression go from a human do-ing into a human be-ing (see what I did there?) is like describing a cloud.  You can’t define it, but you know what it is when you see it.

Those who can teach,  do wonderful things for those who can’t.