Thank You to the U.S. Women's Soccer Team

I, like so many others, was heartbroken when the U.S. women's soccer team didn't win the World Cup title. They were so close! They had come so far and had had so many miraculous wins.

Numerous times I have experienced personal and professional losses when I was so close. Often times the loss has caused a great deal of pain and heartbreak. During these times it is helpful to pen my ponderings on the following questions:

• What more do I have to learn?




• What is the lesson here for me?




• What is the waiting teaching me?
  

I want to have the courage that the U.S. women's soccer team displayed by picking myself up from the ashes of broken dreams and face the next challenge.

Lesson Reminder From an Abscess Tooth

On Monday I was suffering from excruciating pain which I later found out was caused by an abscess tooth. Pain relievers such as aspirin and Tylenol weren't helping. The pain relieving effects of Ibuprofen only lasted for a few hours. Even though I was still able to complete some important work in spite of the pain I was suffering, I didn't produce my best work because my focus was on the pain more than the work.

This experience taught me a very important reminder as to why we want to make Esperanza Elementary a Community Learning School. Because we are specifically targeting low socioeconomic students toothaches will not be an unusual occurrence... and it is difficult for students who are suffering with a toothache to concentrate on doing their best schoolwork.

In order for our students to do their best work we need to address all the issues that could interfere with their learning. For this reason, we want to have professionals such as dentists make regular visits to our school to provide pro bono services for our students whose families can't afford dental care for their children.