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I want to give you a special welcome to our Esperanza Elementary blog as we take our journey to found the school of our dreams. I invite you to visit us often and offer any ideas, thoughts, suggestions, questions, comments, etc. you might have.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

See Others As They May Become

I watched this today on "The Music and the Spoken Word."  The message is extremely important for educators. 



People Change Every Day
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell
Have you ever bumped into someone you knew years ago, surprised to find how much he or she had changed for the better? Life is full of little miracles, but this is perhaps the greatest miracle of all—to see people change, grow, and improve, day by day and little by little.
Imagine how different life would be if we saw people not for who they are right now, but for who they could become. Think of how we might respond differently to a child if we looked past his failed and messy attempts to make something and into his productive, positive future. Consider the boss, spouse, teenager, or neighbor whose occasional annoying behaviors sometimes put us at odds. What if we could see them as the better person they might become? This may be the most important way we can change—in our ability to believe in and nurture change in others.
 
Clinton Duffy was a prison warden in the United States during the 1940s and 50s. He was well known for his efforts to rehabilitate the men in his prison. One critic who was skeptical of these efforts said to the warden, "You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!” But Duffy replied, with the wisdom and perspective that comes of experience: "You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.”
It’s not always easy to see others as they can become, and it very often takes patience and faith. Too often we give ourselves and others a reputation, a perception, that makes change difficult. But people can surprise us, even inspire us, with how they can and often will change for the better.
1. In Thomas S. Monson, "See Others as They May Become,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2012, 69.
Program #4354
¿Se han encontrado alguna vez con un conocido que hacía tiempo no veían, sorprendiéndose por lo mucho que cambió para bien? La vida está llena de pequeños milagros, pero quizás sea éste el más grande de todos: ver a la gente cambiar, crecer y mejorar, día a día y poco a poco.
Imagínense cómo sería la vida si viéramos a las personas no como son al presente, sino como lo que pueden llegar a ser. Piensen en la diferencia en nuestra reacción ante un niño que hace destrozos al tratar de crear algo, si pensamos en su futuro productivo y positivo. Consideren al jefe, al cónyuge, al adolescente o al vecino cuyas acciones a veces nos molestan. ¿Y si los viéramos como las personas mejores que pueden llegar a ser? Ésta tal vez sea la forma más importante de cambiar: la de tener la capacidad de creer en el cambio de los demás y de nutrirlo.
Clinton Duffy era el director de una prisión en los Estados Unidos durante las décadas de 1940 y 1950. Se le conocía por su labor para rehabilitar a los reclusos. Un crítico, que tenía dudas de lo que hacía el Sr. Duffy, le dijo: "Usted sabe que los leopardos no pueden cambiar sus manchas”; a lo que el director de la prisión le contestó, con la sabiduría y la perspectiva de su experiencia: "Sepa usted que no trabajo con leopardos, sino con hombres, y los hombres cambian todos los días”.
No siempre es fácil ver a otras personas como lo que pueden ser, y a menudo se requiere paciencia y fe. Con demasiada frecuencia fijamos una reputación o percepción para nosotros y para los demás, la cual dificulta el cambio. Pero las personas nos pueden sorprender e incluso inspirar, porque pueden cambiar para bien, y a menudo lo hacen.

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