To the Archway Arete 5^th Graders of 2022-2023,

I want to talk to you about words. Yes, words. Words mean sentences and sentences mean grammar and grammar means, well, meaning. When you want me to understand something, when you want me to understand you, you use words. Words, in fact, are a big part of what make us human. You’ll notice, unless you’ve had the good fortune of stumbling into Narnia through a magical wardrobe, that you haven’t heard any animals talk. This is why, even though I love math, history, and science, I really do think that grammar and writing are the most important subjects we get to teach you. They are the subjects that unleash all that makes you special, unique, and infinitely valuable. They are the subjects that let you reach out from your heart and mind into the heart and mind of another person. They are the subjects that make you human. They are also the subjects that help create one of my favorite things in all of the universe: stories.

Your life is a story. Remember, no one wants to read a boring story. But to have an interesting story, things have to happen—bad things. Conflicts and problems are a necessary part of stories, and therefore of life. If there was never any White Witch, Uncle Miraz, mountain lion, goblins, Sheriff of Nottingham, Wicked Witch of the West, or IT, then there would never have been a story. Eustace had to let the sharp lion claws tear painfully into his flesh. Billy had to work tirelessly to save up the money for his dogs. Mary and Colin had to learn how to stop being spoiled brats. Meg had to go years without seeing her father, experience failure at school, and almost lose her brother to IT. The next time a friend says something unkind, you fail at something you practiced well, you embarrass yourself in front of everyone, or three crazy ladies randomly show up in your home to whisk you off to dangerous planet, don’t be discouraged. Remember that you are in a story, and that this is just the part that makes yours interesting, even if hard. It is the part where you, like the protagonist of your favorite story, get to decide how you are going to respond to difficult things. It is a chance to choose virtue over vice, to choose being a hero over being a villain.

Life really is a story, and you are just one character. Sometimes you are the main character, but more often you are just a supporting character in someone else’s story. That does not mean you are less valuable, but rather far more. You have the power to affect not just your life, but many lives. Instead of living in just one story—your own—you get to live in thousands of others, even if only for a single sentence.

Thank you for sharing your words with me this past year. It brings me so much joy to have to tell so many of you, repeatedly, “Stop coming to my desk” during study hall. I don’t know how you did it, but somehow every time I’d tell everyone to sit down….somehow…someway…within 5 minutes there were 10 of you back at my desk, enthusiastically talking to me, as if I had no other work to do whatsoever. I felt tricked every time. But, if I’m being honest, listening to your ridiculous, random questions and stories and jokes and idioms was way more fun than grading papers and writing lesson plans anyways. It was not only more fun, but more important, because with each word you shared, what you were really sharing was your heart. You were sharing your stories with me, and letting me be a part of them for just a moment.

I know that for the 90 students here today, I am just a side character, taking up, at most, only a single page in each of your stories. But I am grateful for that page. And I’d like you to move forward in life not only feeling grateful for the words, sentences, pages, and chapters you get to be in someone else’s story, but also acutely aware of your role as a supporting character. Because that role matters, and even just your words are as powerful as Magic. After all, Eustace never forgot when Reepicheep sat by him on the beach. The kindness of that one moment lived on for a lifetime, or perhaps even longer.

Photo by Nong on Unsplash