The power of commitment
Pamela Sorooshian
We often tell people that they have to decide to unschool, they can't
just dip their toes into it to find out what it is like, because they
won't know what it is like until they're really committed. Things
happen when you make the choice to DO it - when kids are trusted,
they change, for example.
Here is a great quote someone posted to my state list that I think is
relevant:
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless
ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits
oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help
one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events
issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of
unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man
could have dreamed would have come his way."
*****
The author is
William Hutchinson Murray and here is a blurb from Wikipedia's
article about him. For the entire article, see: <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Murray>
At the outbreak of WWII, he joined the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders and was posted to the Middle East and north Africa where
he was captured during the Western Desert Campaign. He then spent
three years in Prisoner of War camps in Italy (Chieti), Germany
(Moosberg, Brunswick) and Czechoslovakia (Marisch Trubeau Oflag VIII-
F). While imprisoned, wrote a book entitled Mountaineering In
Scotland. The first draft of the work was written on the only paper
available to him - rough toilet paper. The manuscript was found and
destroyed by the Gestapo. To the incredulity of his fellow prisoners,
Murray's response to the loss was to start again, despite the risk of
its loss and that his physical condition was so poor from the near
starvation diet that he believed he would never climb again. The
rewritten work was finally published in 1947 and was followed by the
sequel, Undiscovered Scotland in 1951. Both concentrate on Scottish
winter climbing and were widely credited with helping to inspire the
post-war renaissance in the sport. Though written in an evocative,
rather pantheistic, style, somewhat too romantic for modern tastes,
they are of significant literary value.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
just dip their toes into it to find out what it is like, because they
won't know what it is like until they're really committed. Things
happen when you make the choice to DO it - when kids are trusted,
they change, for example.
Here is a great quote someone posted to my state list that I think is
relevant:
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless
ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits
oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help
one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events
issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of
unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man
could have dreamed would have come his way."
*****
The author is
William Hutchinson Murray and here is a blurb from Wikipedia's
article about him. For the entire article, see: <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Murray>
At the outbreak of WWII, he joined the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders and was posted to the Middle East and north Africa where
he was captured during the Western Desert Campaign. He then spent
three years in Prisoner of War camps in Italy (Chieti), Germany
(Moosberg, Brunswick) and Czechoslovakia (Marisch Trubeau Oflag VIII-
F). While imprisoned, wrote a book entitled Mountaineering In
Scotland. The first draft of the work was written on the only paper
available to him - rough toilet paper. The manuscript was found and
destroyed by the Gestapo. To the incredulity of his fellow prisoners,
Murray's response to the loss was to start again, despite the risk of
its loss and that his physical condition was so poor from the near
starvation diet that he believed he would never climb again. The
rewritten work was finally published in 1947 and was followed by the
sequel, Undiscovered Scotland in 1951. Both concentrate on Scottish
winter climbing and were widely credited with helping to inspire the
post-war renaissance in the sport. Though written in an evocative,
rather pantheistic, style, somewhat too romantic for modern tastes,
they are of significant literary value.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]