by The Christi Center’s Program Director, Erin Spalding
Last month I was able to do a presentation on grief and working with grieving children to the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a professional organization of female educators in Texas. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet with women who have a passion for education and who recognize that grief can get in the way of the educational cycle – the teachers’ ability to teach, parents’ ability to parent and kids’ ability to learn.
This year their theme was the Wizard of Oz and my presentation was titled Am I a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? Now, some may wonder where this title came from. Well, when you are grieving….do you really know who you are? Who do other people think you are? What about the kids in the classroom? How many of them have been labeled disruptive, inattentive, or even aggressive –when really the symptoms they were showing were tied to the grief that they were not able to fully express at home. This is particularly true if the parents at home are grieving too. I thought the title was all too fitting.
Another piece of the presentation that fit extremely well with The Christi Center was a musical introduction. Now, I have seen the play Wicked and my friend has played the soundtrack for me at length, but I never connected how fitting this song was for us in the past. The song “For Good” is talking about the possible end to the turbulent friendship of the two main characters, Glinda and Elphaba. However, the lyrics clearly speak to the end of other relationships – both good and bad. The people in our lives, whether with us for a moment or a lifetime change us. I will be forever grateful for parents even if they were not with me in this life for very long. I also hope that I can always remember to be grateful for those in my life now. I appreciate what they bring to me today.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4BjwTzEZw8]
“For Good” Lyrics
I’m limited
Just look at me – I’m limited
And just look at you
You can do all I couldn’t do, Glinda
So now it’s up to you
For both of us – now it’s up to you…
I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today
Because I knew you…
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You’ll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend…
Like a ship blown from it’s mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have been changed for good
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I’ve done you blame me for
But then, I guess we know
There’s blame to share
And none of it seems to matter anymore
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Like a ship blown from it’s mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood
Who can say if I’ve been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
And because I knew you…
Because I knew you…
Because I knew you…
I have been changed for good…