I don’t mean to hit you with such complexity of thought so early on a Monday, but some days are harder than others. Today is one of those days in my office. My computer has taken a mental health leave and the work-arounds required to get functional on a substitute laptop are so time consuming that I have yet to accomplish even a single task. All these efforts to coax a strange laptop into compliance require my memory to pull passwords from the trash bin of my complacency. When everything works as it supposed to, one can get rather used to the ease of routine. I consider myself sturdy of mind but I was brought to humiliating heal today as it became clearer and clearer that every task I was going to attempt was going to hit the brick wall of requirement. Log into this account. Enter your keychain for that one. Recover your password using this email that you haven’t logged into in 3 years. It was like being in a very passive aggressive battle with an inanimate object with far more patience than I will have in a lifetime. It’s as though this computer doesn’t care whether I get any work done today. It’s almost like it wants me to fail.
Once I hear myself assigning malicious intent to the MacBook Air, I realize I’ve lost my grip. It’s time to focus on other tasks. Walk away until I return to the reasonable realm and handle this recalcitrant robot in a more adult fashion. This is when I take my camera and walk the halls. I happen to be one of the lucky people who work in a place where I don’t have to go far to find the antidote for technology induced hysteria. I’ll simply walk out the door of the office to see two 5th graders drilling each other on history terms. They smile while they study and remind me that help is out there and changing the scowl on my face might just feel better.
Further down the hallway, I hear a class practicing their song for the Christmas program. Older kids love to sing. They just have to act like they don’t. As I spy on them through the lens of the camera, I see so much joy alongside the attempts to play it cool. Mrs. Long tells them to stand up tall when they sing. Only when they achieve nightclub status will they be allowed to lounge as they croon. “I don’t see Frank Sinatra in here!” Well, that’s all it takes to get twenty or so impressions of Old Blue Eyes which is surprisingly effective in finding the melody. I am reminded that sometimes, you have to fake it till you make it.
The bassline of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You,’ beckons me to the yard where Mr. T is talking to 4th grade about teamwork. The game required groups of 5 runners, holding one small bean bag as they relay from one side of the blacktop to the other. He asked them what was good about the last attempt. “Working as a team!” “Communicating so we could go faster!”
What was bad about the last attempt? “Some people give up too easily.” He reminded them that when you are part of a team, every choice you make affects the whole group. And, he set them up for another attempt. It reminded me that learning takes time. For every good, there is a bad. And from every bad, there is a chance to improve.
I am lucky to be able to take a walk at work and see these lessons in action. I need the reminders. Now, I just have to go explain concepts like teamwork and a positive attitude to my computer.