A Spark

Every wildfire that has ever consumed so much as a blade of grass began with a spark.  Grass in and of itself cannot suddenly combust it requires a cigarette tossed aside, a firework fired into a field, a strike of lightening, a faulty wire.   Forests, homes, fields, engines...everything requires a catalyst to catch fire. 

Recently, I heard a podcast that didn't mean anything to me in the moment, but in the days and weeks that followed, the message has grown into something that might just become my anthem for this year.   

I am a spark.

My contribution might be small, like those little embers that float away in a beach campfire, but it only takes a spark to ignite.

The greatness of the fire depends on more factors: dryness of the material,  flammability of the material, wind and other factors that I don't even know about because I'm not an expert on fire.  But I do know that no matter how ready any material is to burn, it still takes a spark. Even the tiniest spark when, coupled with the right environment, has the power to ignite a powerful blaze.

I might just be a little spark in the lives of my students, but it takes a spark.  And something else, or someone else, might be the wind that blows that spark into fiery flames. 

When I feel like I'm getting nowhere with my students, when it seems like what I do can't really make a difference, I need to remember that I might just be a spark.  And that is still something.