Have Spirit

I just finished grading and assessing the work of my 162 students, and though my eyes need a break, my distractible brain wanted to check in on Spirit.

Just this morning, despite a 34 year run, Spirit Airlines completely shut down, and all employees and airplanes have been grounded. Thousands of workers will have to look for work elsewhere, and tens of thousands of customers will have to seek other ways to get where they need (or want) to go.

Even though this weekend may feel like an ending for Valencia College students as the semester draws to a close, the world remains strange and often chaotic, throwing random curveballs and launching airstrikes.

I grieve a little for all those whose lives will be upended because of this corporate shutdown, and I also hate the concept of a budget aircarrier who charges for everything including snacks. AND I am frustrated that their closing was hastened by global events with oil price spikes, and I’m annoyed by corporations who don’t manage money the way I think I might (though I have never been a corporate executive, and would likely also struggle in those roles – but still, I’d want to make my PEOPLE as important as PROFIT).

We can have a lot of (even conflicting) feelings in our hearts.

If you’re willing, take this feeling with you as you go:

BE REFLECTIVE and look forward toward GROWTH not backwards with SHAME.

Some of my students managed this semester like pros (and those I have in mind will also admit that they got hit with surprises and stressful moments also). Others this semester struggled or found other priorities. I know of at least two really fun people who disappeared from a class at one point, never to return – I imagine that they knew their lives better than I did and found something exciting or engaging to do instead. OR they got picked up by the Goblin Market or found a door to Fillory, Narnia, or Elsewhere. I might have taken the door myself, had I not committed to my responsibilities.

MORE than GRADES.

My students’ lives have marks on them because they came through my class and I was tasked with assessing performance in Reading, Writing, and Thinking skills.

AND YET they are not grades. They don’t even have to be defined by these blips in time. They are FAR more than marks on a transcript. These students are adventurers, readers, curious thinkers, warriors for animal rights, organic foods, teen mental health, and other topics, pilots, goofballs, worriers, and those on paths towards their Gods. They are far more than their current paths can even show them.

How do we define and refine our IDENTITIES?

Choice. Interests. What others tell us. History.

Please know that regardless of the grades that any of my students earned, I’m glad to have (hopefully) been helpful on their journeys toward their futures, AND I’ll be here to remind them anyone can do this, even if they failed once. (We all fail from time to time. What we do after can define us better.)

HAVE SPIRIT.

I love multifaceted words. Spirit is, was, an airline, and it also is synonymous with SOUL. Having Spirit also means having motivation, gumption, excitement or energy for some thing or task.

As students and Floridians (and New Yorkers or Puerto Ricans or wherever you’re from, and whoever you are) all head off into summer mode, remember to have SPIRIT for something that excites you.

Sure, take breaks and catch up on sleep, but don’t devolve into indolence or YouTube, TikTok, or Netflix spirals. Find things you want and HAVE SPIRIT for them.

Also, try to remember those who are touched by the ending Spirit Airlines, and feel gratitude for all we have and all we are.

Maybe I’ll go outside and stare at the rainclouds. Thunderstorms always fill me with contentment (especially when they’re not too severe and I don’t have to drive through them). I wonder if it’s the slight but not serious danger? Is it the break from the harsh suns of Texas and Florida? I don’t know, but I love the noises, the grandeur, the winds.

Then, later today or tomorrow, I’ve got some writing to do.

I’ve got some SPIRIT for a few goals that excite me.

What goals ENERGIZE YOU?