thought the bad guys had left. A while later, I went to check if they had and walked out the front door.” He paused again. “That’s when it happened. I got shot.” He turned and pointed to the left side of his head. “We were trying to help protect them. I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t see it coming.”
As Scott relived a few minutes of a life-changing day, the last day of what he had always known, I became emotional thinking how only a few minutes prior, I was so self-consumed in all I had to do that I had walked right by this amazing, courageous man.
Scott continued. “But it’s okay. I’m going to be okay. The problem is the bullet is still in my brain. It’s right there.” He pointed to a spot on his head. “The doctors say they can’t move it and can’t take it out, and it needs to stay in there. But I’m okay. This is just my new life.”
The floodgates opened. My tears flowed as I stood listening to the story of someone whom I had completely ignored just a few minutes earlier.
We made our way over to baggage claim, his hand still on my shoulder. As we worked our way through the crowd, I asked about his story and where he was from. Scott shared that he had grown up in Texas. He talked about his family and how he joined the military to help people in need and how he always liked helping other people.
I grabbed his camouflage bag off the conveyor belt, and we moved to the place outside where his dad was going to pick him up. As we waited, he turned to me and said, “I don’t understand why you wanted to help. Most people just walk right by.”
His words sent chills through me.
My heart sank because I had been one of the people who walked right by him. I was the one who couldn’t take a few moments to help someone. I had been all-consumed with myself. I’d been too busy and too preoccupied with my own needs to realize that I was in the presence of a hero.
“Hey, Scott, it’s not every day that I get to meet an American hero,” I said. “Can we take a picture so I can remember you and your story? I want to tell my kids about you. I want them to grow up and understand what true sacrifice means and what a hero really looks like . . . and it looks just like you.”
Scott nodded and said, “I’d be honored to, sir.”
As his dad approached, Scott stuck his hand out and said, “Thanks for being a friend, Tom.”
Feeling like I didn’t even deserve to carry this hero’s luggage and with tears streaming down my face, I could only get out, “No, thank you, Scott.”
It was truly an honor to be in Scott’s presence and have the privilege of carrying his bags while helping him safely get to where he needed to be. It was an honor that I will never forget.
For me, those moments reaffirmed how every interaction matters.
In our schools and in our classrooms, every interaction matters. We must also understand that every interaction is an opportunity to make an impact on those around us. A single interaction can change a person’s life forever.
When you walk into the faculty room, do you build the energy up? Or do you suck the air right out?
As kids walk by us in the hallway, how do we react? Are we looking at our phones or looking into their hearts? When we see a child in need or one who appears to be lost or one who seems to have a heavy heart, do we keep walking? Or do we pause our own worlds for a few moments to help lift someone else’s higher?
As we engage with students in the classroom, what do our everyday interactions look like? How can we ensure that we make every interaction count? How can our daily interactions show kids how much they matter?
As an educator, every day is an opportunity to have an amazing impact on those around you. Even a chance interaction can be life-changing, just as meeting Scott was for me that August afternoon.
To create cultures of innovation where learning is personal and authentic, we must recognize that every interaction matters.
Stop & Reflect
Think of a recent interaction that was personal for you. How was that interaction authentic in nature? What type of impact did it have on you?
We must own our actions. We must own our mindsets. We must own the opportunities that we take and those we pass on. We must own our roles in creating the cultures our kids need to thrive.
When you walk into the faculty room, do you build the energy up? Or do you suck the air right out? If asked, would those around you compare you to a faucet that pours into the lives of others and adds to the existing energy? Or would they say you’re more like a drain, where the energy and momentum go to disappear?
What flows out of you?
We must own our abilities to create the cultures our kids need to thrive by making every interaction count. When done consistently over time, it is these interactions, these moments, that build trust.
Try This
Keep a personal journal in your desk or digitally. At the end of each day, spend three to four minutes reflecting on which interactions you feel were most impactful that day. At the start of each week, take a few minutes to read and reflect on your impact from the previous week.
Find a colleague whom you admire who “makes every interaction count.” Tell that person why you enjoy working together.
Keep a private “Interactions Checklist” where you can informally keep track of meaningful interactions with your students (or staff). Over time, reflect on those you haven’t connected with and go out of your way to do so.
Building Trust
“Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.”
—Unknown
Whatever takes time and energy to build can also be shattered in a moment. Without it, little positive progress can be made. With it, unbreakable bonds can be secured. Learning cultures depend on it.
Trust, the foundation of all interactions, dictates the speed at which progress in our classrooms and schools can be made. Leadership works at the speed of trust. Collaboration works at the speed of trust. Transformation works at the speed of trust. School and classroom cultures where personal and authentic learning flourishes are built at the speed of trust.
What is it that you do to intentionally build trust in your classroom or school? This isn’t a one-time activity or something that gets checked off the list on the first day of school. How do you build trust consistently over time?
School and classroom cultures where personal and authentic learning flourishes are built at the speed of trust.
As educators, we process things with our minds but often make decisions with our hearts. We cannot forget that our students do the same. It is through trust that we can build relationships—the foundation of personal and authentic learning cultures. It’s no secret that students learn from people they love. This love comes from a sense of safety, security, and knowing one is cared for in the process. It is trust that stabilizes and solidifies these in our daily interactions.
Before trust can become an
