“Stop trying to stop yourself and start trying to start yourself.”
– “Mr. T,” Rob Tegtmeier, my friend and a career (exceptional) educator
Business travel had me passing through the Milwaukee / Mitchell International Airport on Thursday, and coincidentally, a text from “Mr. T” arrived saying that his class had been looking at this blog (This one. The one you’re reading! Whodda thunkit?!) — and would I be open to a FaceTime, etc?
Rob is a great teacher. He’s a good, good man, dad, etc — and I thought…..”Hmmm, MKE airport is less than 15 minutes from Rob’s school…..FaceTime? Hell, I’ll just swing over there.”
Holy moly, am I glad I did.
First and foremost, Rob’s a first rate guy. His son, “O. T.” was my ace second baseman and reliever back in the days of Mercs baseball. No surprise, considering his lineage, that he’s a great kid!
Ahhh, back to Thursday. It was such an honor to be asked in to this conversation. Second, what a neat group of young people I met. Third, it was an inspiration (divinely generated? I think so!), as Rob asked me to talk about writing — specifically why, how and what to do about writer’s block.
When asked, I told these young people that I like to write about things that make me pause, wonder, frustrated, excited or believe. This small group of young people made me pause and wonder about what their marks would look like a few years down the road, which made me excited and made me believe in our future. So, frustration was the only ingredient missing — and thus, this post.
One of the students insisted upon saying, “I can’t write.” I suggested that he delete the words “I can’t” from the beginning of any sentence. (He responded by using them as a complete sentence. Touche!) I also reminded him of Parse DeJong and Dick Heston’s admonishments on “can’t.” (Long time subscribers will recall those — and I post them at least once a year for those of you that don’t…) And that’s when Rob offered the little ditty that leads this post.
In the workaday life, are we stopping ourselves or starting ourselves? And, what difference would it make if we stopped stopping and started starting?
Rob Tegtmeier says
Thanks for stopping by (I don’t mean that you that you were stopping, you started something). We all, including me learned something new today.
T
Mick kirisits says
Thanks for writing about your day with the student!! It put a smile in my heart!! And, after all, they are our future, what better way is there to invest some of your time!
shyheim says
Thank you for coming to are school and talking to us i appreciate that you did hope you come back soon.
Amber Smith says
Thank you for stopping by, I really liked what you said about writing every day about whatever is on your mind or what you care about. Thank
Caralia Ferrante says
Thanks for coming into our class yesterday, sorry I had to leave early. I liked how we talked about incorporating our passions into writing for our paper.
Megan Jacobs says
Thank you for coming, It was very inspiring!
Reynold says
☞ ͡°╭͜ʖ╮ ͡°☞ Thanks for the advice I really went away with good thoughts in my head.