Believing in our resources

When I was in primary school, I decided to try and beat the system.

By cheating in a maths test.

It was a test on the 6 times table.

Even though I knew it, I wrote all the answers on my left hand.

If this works,” I thought with glee, “I won’t have to revise for anything, ever again!”

(I was around 7...)

Each time Mrs Baker, the teacher, called out a question, I glanced at my palm and swiftly copied down the answer.

At the end of the test, she collected the papers, put them in a pile on her desk, took a breath…

… and proceeded to give the whole class a sermon on honesty, and why it was wrong to cheat.

“Those who cheat,” she concluded, “are only cheating themselves.”

She didn’t call me out, and she didn’t need to.

I blushed liked I’d never blushed before.

And in those days, I was a big blusher.

The thing is, I didn’t need to write those answers down. I already knew them.

And if I hadn’t known them all, I would still have passed that test.

I’d prepared and practiced.

No need for any crutches, cheat-sheets or writing on hands.

And that’s still the case today.

We know enough. We don’t have to have all the answers.

Or a ton of slides.

And we’re rarely being put to the test. We’re there to share something valuable.

We just need to trust in our capabilities, and our resources.

In our powers of connection.

For we all have them. A-plenty.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash