In the beginning of the year you wrote a letter to yourself, detailing the hopes and expectations you held for the months that would follow. Now, as you find yourself in the fourth and final quarter of your senior year, I'm asking you to write one more letter to yourself.... one that details all the ways you hope to "get busy living" when you leave these classrooms behind in just a few weeks. (NOTE: Even if you haven't committed to any solid plans yet, you can still write to the notion of hope!!!) What are your hopes for post-graduation? What changes are you thinking of making? What challenges must you overcome? What accomplishments can you be proud of? Who are the people who have helped you along the way? What part(s) of your current routine (other than our class and my outstanding wit) will you miss, and why? What is your "ultimate" dream, and how can you attain it? How does it differ (if at all) from the "practical" dream you hold on to?
Somehow, all of this reminds me of the Langston Hughes poem, Dreams in which he writes:
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
ASSIGNMENT: How will you "hold fast to dreams" and how are you planning to "get busy living?" Write a FINAL letter to your high school self-- take this SERIOUSLY-- and I'll give you an envelope when I collect it tomorrow. I will NOT read the actual content of you letter, but I will glance at it for all of 2 SECONDS to see that it meets the required length and isn't written in Mandarin or Hieroglyphics!!!
