The Spark of Learning: Never Give Up!

This week something extraordinary happened. Something that hasn't happened for 71 years. The Chicago Cubs won the National League pennant and will be going to the world series! I want to give a little background to show the significance of this event. The last time the Chicago Cubs won the world series was 1908. At that time, Teddy Roosevelt was president, Oklahoma was added as the 46th state, and the ball dropped in Times Square for the very first time. The last time the Chicago Cubs went to the world series was in 1945 (they lost to the Detroit Tigers). During that series, the curse of the billy goat began. The story goes that a man came into Wrigley Field with his goat and was asked to leave when the odor of the goat began to bother the fans. As he left the stadium he said the Cubs would not win again. The curse took immediate effect and the team went on to lose that series and never returned to world series...until this week!

As a personal background, I was born in Chicago and my father (like all the Wennstrom family) was a huge Cubs fan. My first ballgame was at Wrigley Field and my favorite jersey has always been my Cubs Jersey. Growing up I learned early on that being a Cubs fan was not about winning, it was about supporting the home team and taking pride in that. My dad passed away in 2001, but I know he was smiling down on the event that hadn't happened since was a young boy. As I look back on a lifetime of being a Cubs fan, I'm struck by two things. The first thing is that rooting for the Cubs helped me develop perseverance and pride that came not from winning, but from being a part of something larger than myself. It's about tradition, loyalty, and overcoming the odds. The second thing that I have realized is that after so many years of having poor teams or losing a heartbreak of a game, I actually stopped thinking that the Cubs would ever be a championship team. When pride doesn't come from winning, sometimes we stop keeping score. I had lost that thing that every fan should have...hope. I realized that when the Cubs won the game to go to the world series and my feelings were as much shock as they were joy. I was so used to the thought that it wouldn't happen, that part of me couldn't believe that it did happen. My blind allegiance had forgotten that we actually could be champions again someday.

As an educator, there are many correlations I could draw from my experience as a Cubs fan. We are all loyal supporters of our students and we will never give up on them. We support one another as a team and like the Cubs, we don't judge our success on a scoreboard or a test. However, we will not give up on the hope that they can reach any dream or goal they set for themselves and will be ready to celebrate with them as they do. I purposely wrote this post before the outcome of the world series. Not because I don't have hope that they will win, but because it doesn't matter. The hopes of educators and Cub fans don't depend on the final score, but the character, teamwork, and joy that is built along the journey!

PEARLS OF WISDOM

"If I worried about appearances, I wouldn't be at Cubs games." - Billy Corgan

"I love Chicago, but I didn't think I had enough soul to be a Cubs fan." - Emmylou Harris

"Once a Cubs fan, always a Cubs fan." - Bailey Chase