I taught a class tonight to eight people. It doesn't seem like that many until I'm standing in front of them and realize that they each want individual attention.
And they deserve it! Every one does, I do believe. Except maybe for the really annoying people. They might deserve to be individually ignored.
One woman in my class was on the edge of both categories. She was steamed. Really steamed.
But she seemed to be trying hard to keep with the class despite the fact that she was irritated.
She was irritated by something very small and very fixable.
So there I was. Caught between steam and conscientiousness. There was a running conversation in my head that went something like this:
(sweet)I'm so sorry you're unhappy. I really am.(end sweet) (normal)Now is the time to pay attention(end normal) (steam)to me and not a small detail. We need to look at the big picture now, don't we? There are other people in the class, lady. (end steam) (sweet)I know you're disappointed and we'll make it right.(end sweet) (steam)Now get your self together and stop pouting, dammit. You're a grown up. You can endure this for a couple more hours!(end steam) (normal)Now here's some wool and some stabilizer. Some people call it...
In the end everything was fine. I learned that she was a difficult woman anyway and so my irritation was probably a gentle reminder to her that the world was as normal as it always was.
And in the end, I got to laugh at myself for thinking that I could help stop her being irritated.
Ha!
It's a normal state of affairs!
Posted by dotty at January 12, 2005 11:58 PM