First, I want to apologize. For those of you that follow this blog, let me update you on my life.
1. I graduated.
2. I got a job. (Before I graduated.)
3. I teach a state tested subject. (U.S. History)
4. Moved back to Hattiesburg.
Now that you have been caught up on the oh-so-interesting life of Mr. Medlin, I want to touch on something that bugs me to no end, and that is complacency.
Too often we become sedentary. We have no strive to improve, yet we don't let ourselves fall. We stay right in the middle of what is comfortable never truly reaching out for a new experience. I came across this attitudes and system of thought within my own classroom. I overheard a student say, "All I need to do is pass and I don't care about anything else."
Why is this student complacent?
It is an attitude, plain and simple. An attitude that has been drilled into our heads since day one: just getting by. "Just getting by" won't get you too much of anywhere in life. Relationships, learning, and growth take more than "just getting by." Since when did we forget about going the extra mile? Whether or not it is to help someone else out or to better our own life, when did we become okay with not giving our best?
We as a society have become complacent. We have come to terms with just doing enough to scrape by, only so that we can pay more attention to our iPhones and social media. We have not moved or advanced ourselves, but rather taken the social nature of humans and the drive to be the best completely out of the picture. I tell my students every day: "Do not mistake activity for achievement." Just because you are doing something doesn't mean you are achieving." Do something worth doing. Do something that is going to bring our the best in yourself in others.
As a society, we need to instill in our youth a sense of responsibility. One that makes them want to reach for the stars. One that makes them want to become way more awesome than they already are. One that makes them act with a sense of urgency. I watched a video last night from the Kid President and it was a pep talk. He read a Robert Frost poem and it explained how the narrator took the road less traveled. That is what I am asking my students to do. Yeah, sure, there will be tough spots along the way and obstacles to overcome, but overcoming those obstacles are what defines us as a person. Dr. Joe Paul at Southern Miss once told me a very fine piece of advice, "Never let your mistakes and obstacles define you." I have tried to pass this on to as many students of mine as possible. Until they realize that overcoming the mistakes and obstacles will make them better in all facets of success, they will continue to be complacent, forever trapped in what they have always known.
Live outside of what you know. Step out of the boundaries. Go the extra mile. Ask for more. Grow. Love. Learn.
