Perfectly Imperfect

If you're a teacher, or even a parent, in the state of Georgia you know we're in the midst of testing season. And every year, around this time, my students learn a little flaw about me...





While my kids are all quiet and testing, I have to walk around the classroom, watching them and making sure they're doing what they're supposed to, notating any testing anomalies that may come up, delivering tissues for runny noses, or lightly tapping someone on their shoulder if they're falling asleep. I do this the entire time they're testing...sometimes up to 90 minutes!

And while they're at their quietest is when they can literally hear one of my flaws....the cracking and popping sounds my legs make as I walk!

Later after testing is over, the conversation goes something like this.

Student - Mrs. Cooke, what is that sound you make when you're walking around?

Me - It's my legs.

Student - Your legs??? I thought it was your shoes making that sound!!!

Me - Nope. It's my knees and my ankles. I promise it isn't a serious medical condition or anything like that, and I'm not dying, but it IS rather annoying. So now you know my ONLY (just kidding!) imperfection!!! 

Last week, after one of our first days of testing was over, and after the popping sounds were discovered, I used my flaw to start a conversation about imperfections. I wanted my students to see my vulnerability. I talked openly and honestly about my flaw(s) and then asked them to share (if they wanted) the things about themselves they wished they could change.

At first no one wanted to share, but after the first and second student went, the floodgates opened! Students shared everything from scars and a crooked pinkie to lisps and stuttering. It was awesome! Not their flaws, of course, but the fact that they felt safe enough and vulnerable enough to share.

One student shared how she really hated being so tall, and she had the thickest and curliest hair.  My response...

Students, I realized that many of the things you just shared with me are impossible to change. They are part of who you are. And the very thing that you dislike the most, is the very thing that makes you unique and BEAUTIFUL! No one else was made exactly the way you are, and you are perfectly and wonderfully made!  And Selena, the things you hate about yourself are the things that stand out to me the most. When I first met you, I thought to myself, you are tall and stunning; you could be a model! And your hair!!! Some people would pay big bucks to have hair like yours! It's so thick and so beautiful. You wear it straight, and you wear it curly. Both ways are so awesome!

I could tell I was getting through to them. And it's so true. The flaws that we are so critical to identify in ourselves are the very things that make us human, vulnerable, and most importantly loved by our friends and family.

And now that I'm thinking about it...I wonder if the popping and cracking of my legs is a testing anomaly?

Hmmm...