We can leave the same hour lecture with completely different lessons. Walk the same woods, join the same choir, weather the same storm – your experience will still be different than mine.
Is it any wonder, then, that children can grow up in the same household and turn out vastly different?
We take different things. Different lessons, different nudges.
The connection is that we did it together. Even if the outcomes are different, the inputs are nearly identical.
In the end, it’s not a lesson learned, a piece sung, a choice made that connects us. It’s the shared DNA, the shared family, the shared life experiences. Even if we take different things, we take them from the same place.
As a teacher, can you strive to teach the right lessons and also recognize that what you are offering is deeper and more important than any single experience in class?
We each take different things, but we remain connected.