I was inspired today at the ASCD Conference in Chicago by the amazing heart centered educators I met. I was touched deeply by the remarks from Ryan Twentey and Joshua Garcia, who were honored as ASCD’s Outstanding Young Educators. Freeman Hrabowski lit a fire in all of us to commit to having high expectations and making a difference in the lives of all children.

The poem below was shared with me by a passionate participant in one of my workshops. After being surrounded by 10,000 committed educators today, I pass it onto to all of you with much gratitude for who you are and what you do each day.

The person next to you…

Look around you…
Who are the people sitting next to you?

The people next to you…
are the greatest miracles you will ever meet at this moment
– and the greatest mysteries.

The people next to you…
have an inexhaustible reservoir of possibilities,
which have only been partially been touched.

The people next to you…
are a unique universe of experience
seething with necessity and possibility,
dread and desire, smiles and frowns,
laughter and tears, fears and hopes –
all struggling to find expression.

The people next to you…
… are surging to become something,
… to arrive at some destination,
… to have a story and a song,
… to be known and to know.

The people next to you…
… believe in something,
… stand for something,
… count for something,
… labor for something,
… wait for something,
… wait for something,
… run from something,
… run towards something.

The people next to you…
… are more than any description,
… are more than any explanation,
… are more, much, much more.

The people next to you…
are searching…
… for meaning,
… for inner-peace,
… for self-esteem,
… for something they already have
… they just have to realize that.

The people next to you..
have problems and fears,
… just like you,
… are often undecided,
… but are endowed with great toughness in the face of adversity
and are able to survive the most unbelievable
difficulties and challenges.

The people next to you…
… are combinations of people
met during all of their lifetimes.
The people next to you…
have something they can do better than anyone else in the world,
have strengths they do not even recognize,
need to talk to you about those abilities,
need you to listen,
but do they dare speak them to you?

The people next to you…
… need a friend,
… want to be a friend,
… can comfort you,
… care for you,
… understand you,
… and love you.

Isn’t that what you want?
It’s what they want.
The people next to you…
are special human beings
… and so are you!

You will want to get to know these people.

Author Unknown