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Becky,
Thank you for sharing this. I LOVE that you are focusing on the human side of things. Certainly it’s just as unsustainable for humanity to treat each other like dirt and the present political state of the world (all over the world) is a difficult pill to swallow as more and more leaders turn inward and more authoritarian in their approach. Typically this is a sign of unsustainability as well. In the microcosm of a classroom the same applies. Of course we are not perfect, and we make mistakes, but as you mentioned, we need to deal with them in a constructive way and recognize the power of empathy, inter-connectedness and collaborative problem solving. Providing voice to stakeholders is an important piece of sustainability and, as it turns out, to a happy classroom too. :-). It’s hard to tell what is more important – the human condition of the planetary condition – but my approach is to try to make the right decision in all those small moments so that, over time, I can tell myself that, given what I knew and understood at the time of the decision, I made the most good and least harm. Thank you for making the connections to the lives that we touch as educators. It’s.a very important thing to remember.