“Give yourself a break from self-rejection; try some introspection”
In Episode 306 of Amy Hermon’s School Librarians United podcast, guest Katie Capshaw mentions how she does not think of herself as a leader, but rather as “just” a middle school librarian. When she was approached to run for a board position in her state’s school library association, she deflected, insisting she wasn’t a leader. She later changed her mind, to the benefit of all involved.
Katie’s self-effacing comments resonated with me. For the past few days, I’ve been pondering her words, and it’s brought me to an important realization:
Leaders do not have special skills or insights. Leaders are just ordinary people. They do not possess mystical abilities. There is not an age requirement. People who lead simply make the choice to acknowledge they have the ability to affect the reality around them. And that’s a power we all have.
In other words: We become leaders as soon as we choose to be.
And we need to choose to be.
“I Am the Decisive Element”
In one of my first years as a teacher, a parent shared with me this quote from educator Haim Ginott:
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”
That quote lived on my desktop for years, and continues to live in my mind. At first, I only applied it to the classroom and my students. But I soon came to realize that the idea behind this quote went far beyond the classroom.
I AM the Decisive Element
The fact of the matter is, we are the decisive element every day, in every situation. We have a hand in crafting the reality we experience.
I can be passive, let the world do with me as it will, and refuse to acknowledge my role in shaping my world. But I have found over the years that I don’t have a lot of patience with myself or with others who decide to take this path. This stance tends to bring with it a lot of “woe is me” behavior – complaints about how things are bad, and life isn’t fair.
During my teenage pessimist/nihilist years, this seemed fitting. But I was fortunate enough to attend a teen leadership camp that helped me see that I could make a difference in the world, if I wanted to. 
Choose Wisely
I get it – it takes a lot less energy to “go limp” and be carried on the currents of life. And there’s a perverse sort of joy to be had in complaining about how none of the bad things that happen are my fault, since I wasn’t involved.
But as prog-rock band RUSH reminds us, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” While we can’t simply choose every element of our reality, we do have the ability to affect our surroundings and the people within them.
We are the decisive element, not just in our classrooms, but in our lives. Every moment, we can choose to try to make the world better, or not.
Picking up that piece of litter? Made the world better.
Giving some kind words to a colleague or student? Made the world better.
Volunteering to help run an event I think is worthwhile? Made the world better.
Stand For What You Believe
And that brings me to the crux of this month’s “homily.” In the past few months, I’ve written about things that have been making me feel better in tough times: finding your people, acknowledging your accomplishments, and focusing on a small handful of things. I do not intend for this monthly post to be a self-help column – lord knows I can barely help myself. But I have to address an elephant in the room.
Things right now are not great in a lot of dimensions. There are literal existential threats to our library collections, our profession, our country. Even the nature and accessibility of reliable information is in question.
And it’s up to us to acknowledge that we have agency to influence the reality in our immediate vicinity.
If you don’t like how things are, get involved to help change them.
If you do like how things are, get involved to help keep them that way.
One thing that’s the same in both cases: The systems that shape the conditions in which we live are created and maintained by people. People age out (eventually, even when they try to cling on long past their time) – that means those systems WILL change. It’s up to you to decide how those systems continue.
Baby Stepping to Success
I specifically mention systems because I see a crisis across so many types of organizations – governmental, social, political, professional. And yet, despite the desperate need for folks to be involved in these systems, it seems more and more folks are retreating, too overwhelmed to want to engage.
I get that feeling – believe me, I truly do. And I’m not suggesting that we all need to go out and run for President. But we collectively do need to take steps to make this reality the reality we want to live in. Because the fact of the matter is, we’re stuck living in this reality – we can’t just move to a different one. That means we have to face reality.
We need to acknowledge our strengths and privileges. We need to use them to help shore up those who do not have the same abilities and supports we do. That means doing whatever we can to make every day a little better, and thinking about what we can do on increasingly larger scales.
Out With the Old, In With the YOU
I’m active in my state and national organizations. I want to help make things better. But the fact of the matter is, I’m old. I am on the downhill slope of my professional years. Even after I retire, I plan to continue to contribute as long as I am able, but I am problematic.
Besides being another privileged old white dude, I am also falling further and further out of step with the needs and interests of school librarians and educators who haven’t yet hit the half-way point in their careers.
As I’ve said before: I’m not anyone special, but you are. Anything I can do, you can do, and probably better. We collectively need to acknowledge our abilities and our power to shape the world around us.
YOU need to acknowledge that you ARE a leader. The nature of effective school librarianship requires that each one of us be a leader, so stop pretending you’re “just” a school librarian.
If you are reluctant to lead, then you may be just the type of leader that’s needed. People who feel they should be (or deserve to be) leading seem too often to focus on making things better for only themselves, rather than making things better for everyone.
You don’t need years of experience. You don’t need honors or awards. You don’t need to write a monthly blog post. You just need to choose, and then engage.
Choose Your Own Engagement
If you’re not sure how, touch base with your county or state organization – I am sure they can help you find a way to be involved.
And AASL recently created an “Engagement Finder” page to help members find their just-right type of engagement. Seek your opportunity by area of interest, work style, time availability, and/or experience level. You can read more about it in the post “The Power of Professional Engagement” by AASL President-Elect Amanda Kordeliski.
Right here, right now, you can decide to make a difference.
The only thing standing in your way is you.
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