Recently I read that it is more expensive to drill a tunnel than to build a bridge.
Both help people to get from A to B.
One is in everyones view, the other one almost invisible.
Bridges show the people: We are doing something! Look, the bridge is build, the investment was worthwhile. Come look, see and admire!
Tunnels on the other hand are helping, too, but they are not catching much attention.
I remember when my husband and I visited a famous sight for train lovers, the Semmering Bahn. It was built around 1850 to bring Austrian trains to the Mediterranean Sea over the Alps.
The Semmering Bahn contains bridges and tunnels. What made it the most expensive venture at that time were the tunnels, not the pretty bridges everybody admires today.
When we are teaching we help people get from A to B as well.
We need to build bridges and tunnels to assist them.
Learning is hard and the learner will need our assistance through the rough patches, through frustration, lack of confidence and motivation.
What are we as teachers focusing on – on the shiny bridges that are for everyone to see and that tell the world we are here? Or are we there to support our students through the tunnels? There is almost no reward there because tunnels are almost invisible.
When we are creating art, I think we need both. We need eyes and ears to receive what we are trying to do with our performance (and we clearly see what happens without those in these days – the arts are dying when there is no audience to look, see and admire).
But we also need to be the tunnel builders who are just there to support.
Not much glory there to get at first glance.
Helping others to navigate through darkness, fear and frustration is on the other hand the most glorious thing, we humans are capable of. It helps us to be the higher octave of ourselves, being a truly caring person, full of empathy, goodwill and support.
Build bridges and build tunnels.
Keep your eyes on the hard work that many times no one can see, keep it on the tunnels.
It’s not about the outer games, it is about being there for others.
The tougher the times get, the more we will grasp this.
With so much love,
Anselma
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