The gift IS the journey.

A few days ago I was at a celebration where I heard a story I want to share.

A teacher decided he wanted to do something different, so he moved overseas and began teaching in a refugee camp in Africa. The conditions were poor – no electricity, and few supplies for the one-room school, but the refugee children and their parents were excited about learning and the opportunity it provided. The teacher loved their enthusiasm which somewhat compensated for the conditions and he stayed for a number of years. Eventually, it was time for the teacher to retire and return to America. At the end of the year, the students and their parents had a celebration because they loved the teacher and his commitment to them over the years. There was one boy who was sad because he was very poor and did not have enough money for food, let alone for a present. This really bothered the boy and he thought a long time about what he could give his beloved teacher. Finally, he had an inspiration. He borrowed a bucket and walked to the ocean, a three hour journey. When he arrived, he filled the bucket with white sand from the beach and carried the filled bucket the three hours back to the refugee camp, where he proudly presented the bucket of sand to his teacher. The teacher was puzzled, but thanked the boy for the present, and said, “You didn’t have to walk to the ocean, you could have given me sand from here in the camp.” The boy shook his head and explained, “You don’t understand, the gift is not the sand. The gift is the journey.”

So, how about you? Do you miss the journey because you only focus on an end result? You may have missed the best part. The entire testing craze that grips the country focuses only on the bucket of sand and misses the drama and beauty of the education journey.