Main Priorities

I have a large 3-ring binder that I use at school. It holds the school calendar, notes from meetings, answer keys to quizzes, and other stuff that I want to keep handy.

On the cover of this binder I inserted a quote. I don't recall the source of this quote so I cannot verify it's authenticity.

Treat others as they are and they will stay that way. Treat them as though they already are what they can be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming. -- Goethe

I had a guest speaker in the classroom this week. She is from a not-for-profit program called Project Success. She visits my students each month and talks about goals, priorities, the arts, and other things.

This week she was talking about the play "Two Gentlemen of Verona" by William Shakespeare. (A key component of Project Success is free theater tickets for the students and their family, transportation and childcare provided.) She talked about how the priorities of the two main characters changed during the play.

She asked the students, "What are your main priorities?"

She then asked the students, "Do your daily choices reflect those priorities?"

I thought about my priorities. I thought about whether my daily choices reflected those priorities. I thought about me carrying around a quote from Goethe in my binder. I thought of my relationship with my boys, my wife, my family, my friends, my students, my colleagues, and God. (Not necessarily in that order.)

What are my priorities? Are those priorities evident in the way I live? In what I do? In my family's budget?

What are your priorities? Do your daily choices reflect those priorities?