The Things They Carried

Many many MANY great lessons were presented during the 2012 Northwest Arkansas Writing Project Summer Invitational.  Many.  As I watched each lesson, I looked for ways to use the middle and high school lessons in the elementary classrooms I am lucky enough to reach.  The possibilities are endless!

One lesson, however, is going to take a little more thinking before I will be attempting it at the elementary level.  Not because it was too hard or the skill isn't appropriate or the content was too advanced. No, it will take me a while to translate Katy's lesson at the elementary level because I was so focused on what I was taking away from it...how it was helping me as a writer...as a person. 

Katy asked us to read a few pages from Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried.  I was so draw into this book that as soon as the lesson was finished, I raced to Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of the book...besides, I needed a new book to read as I watch the waves roll in when we hit the beach tomorrow night. (Woo hoo!)  Anyway...at the close of Katy's lesson she asked us to write about carrying  something that is too heavy to continue taking it with you every day.  So...

Let it go.  Let it go.  Let it go.

You are carrying around too much extra garbage with you every day.  Stop worrying so much about what did or did not happen.  You can’t change it anyway.  Whether it was good or bad no longer matters; what matters is that it is…all of it is.  You over analyze situations, replay events in your head, and exhaust yourself thinking about what might have happened if.  You carry this worry around with you every day expecting a different result.  Guess what…it’s not going to happen.  It’s just not. 

Experiences, both good and bad, make you who you are today and who you might be tomorrow.  No one expects you to be perfect.  No one except you anyway.  Your destiny is not determined by what has already happened.  Your destiny is waiting for you.  God’s path is laid out before you…waiting.  All you have to do is follow where He leads.  You have been truly blessed with so many great things in your life.  If you continue to display the scars you think define you, you will never live the life you are meant to live.

So let it go.  Be brave.  Put down all of your fears and regrets.  You don’t need to carry those burdens around with you anymore.

You are loved.  And that is all that matters.