There are always otherwises in life we can never know, because they have not happened and perhaps never will. In many ways, I am grateful for not having experienced the otherwises that might replace getting out of bed on two strong legs or eating my cereal, breakfast bar, and banana each morning. Or, drinking tea as part who I am.
Jane Kenyon wrote about things we take for granted because they are ingrained in who we are and we pay little attention to them. They are the ordinary things that in many ways are extraordinary.
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
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About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Thank you for this wonderful reminder! One day it will be otherwise – until then we need to remember not to take those little thinks for granted but to enjoy them with a thankful mind and being fully present here and now.
You are welcome and thank you for an inspiring comment.
I’m so grateful that my day has been exactly as it has been, and will be. I accept that it will one day be otherwise. This is the only certainty.
Thanks for sharing this poem and author.
Thank you for a wonderful comment and you are welcome.
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Wonderful post Ivon. Sings gratitude.
Thank you David.
Beautiful day to spend without thinking about the otherwise.thank you for visiting my plog.jalal
Thank you in turn and you are welcome Jalal.
Beautiful in its simplicity. We take our simple lives for granted. Millions around the world don’t enjoy what we have. Yes, it could be otherwise. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome Rosaliene. Thank you for a lovely comment.
Magnificent…
Thank you Mimi.
This is a wonderful shift in perspective that opens my heart. I’m grateful that I found your blog, it could have been otherwise.
Thank you Val. That is a lovely comment.
Great poem, so true!
Thank you.
Profoundly simple and simply profound.
Thank you.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
THIS MAY HAVE BEEN WRITTEN OTHERWISE, BUT WE ARE GLAD IT WASN’T!!!! 🙂
Thank you for the re-blog Jonathan. I enjoyed the comment and it left me smiling.
ORT-ORT!!!
This is so true and a truth that I will be the first to admit – I forget more often I I should. Gee, I should never forget. Thank you for the reminder.
You are welcome and thank you for the great comment.
May I post this on my twitter feed?
Yes, you may.
On another note …. thank you for the “follow”. Thank you for stopping by … it’s really appreciated!! 🙂 … Peace!!
You are welcome. Thank you for taking time and commenting. Take care.
🙂
This is a very good poem, I like this one a lot, thank you for posting it.
You are welcome.