Rethinking My OLW

Posted on by Writing to Learn, Learning to Write

In early January, I decided on the word hope as the word I would live by in 2021. It seemed like a good word. After all, I am hoping for an end to the pandemic; hoping to hug my father and my grandchildren again; hoping to travel to see my son and sister and their families; hoping for better leadership in our nation; hoping that children and young adults can get back to the world they deserve to live in.

And then I visited the Brooklyn Museum. There, in the main hall, was a banner with these words: “After hope, then what?” It pushed my thinking. Was hope the right word? Is it enough?

And then the Capitol riots happened……and the deaths from COVID continued to soar…..and hate and violence showed their ugly faces again and again. Was hope the right word? Is it enough? The more I thought about it, the more I found that hope started to sound passive. Almost trite. I know hope is important. I know I’ll need to hold on to hope, but I need to do more. I need a new word. A word that is going to drive change.

And so it is that I’ve decided to add a word to my OLW. In 2021, my TLW (Two Little Words) will be Hope + Action.

Published by Writing to Learn, Learning to Write

6 thoughts on “Rethinking My OLW”

  2. There’s a crew of teacher writer out there that are going with the OLW a month! Christie Wyman, I think, is doing it, may have started it…she’s used the OLW for many years but this year, she wondered what would happen if she chose a word a month? Your slice here makes me think that one purpose of the OLW is to keep us thinking and clearly HOPE did for you and now HOPE + ACTION will keep you on your toes — I think you have permission to keep that sentence growing as you see fit — HOPE + ACTION + ? Maybe by the end of the year you’ll add an =!

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