It occurred to me today that I had it all wrong.

I’m a teacher, among other things, and a lot of the teachers that I know have a favorite ‘teacher’ movie, just like police officers might have a favorite ‘police’ movie, or doctors might have a favorite ‘doctor’ movie.

For some of the teachers I know, it might be Lean On Me; for others, it might be Stand And Deliver; for some others, it might even be Billy Madison. I happen to have a tie for first-place for favorite ‘teacher’ movie: Dead Poet’s Society and Mr. Holland’s Opus. I’ll bet you can guess, from the name of this post, which one of these I’d like to discuss.

In the movie, Glenn Holland is a musical composer; many of the scenes of the movie occur while Glenn is sitting at his piano, in his home, working on the single greatest piece of his career. This is what one might call, a magnum opus. In fact, if you look up the word ‘opus’ in the dictionary, the definition specifically makes reference to artists or musicians… or composers. And so, with the movie title in mind, you might be led to believe that the movie is about Glenn’s work as a composer.

It occurred to me today that I had it all wrong, as many times as I’ve seen that movie; the movie is not about the musical piece that Glenn Holland finally completes, near the end of the movie, the piece that is played for him by an orchestra made up of some of his greatest fans.

At least, the movie is not only about that work.

For, you see, the other definition for the word ‘opus’, the more relaxed definition, is simply ‘work’. That’s what the word originally meant in Latin –> work. Today, I realized that the movie, entitled Mr. Holland’s Opus, could be narrowly considered to be about the great piece of music that he writes, or –in a more open interpretation– the movie can be seen as a statement on Glenn Holland’s work.

In the movie, Mr. Holland is a coach and a teacher, by trade. Near the start of the movie, when Glenn starts his career at a local high school as a music teacher, it is clear that he’d much rather be at home, working on his musical compositions. But, as is often the case with art, you’ve got to have something to pay the bills, and Mr. Holland starts the work of creating a music program in his new school setting.

I’m not going to give any more of the movie away; if you’ve never seen it before, you ought to.

I think it’s like that for all of us –> we ‘work’ at different things and, if we’re steady and diligent, they amount to something that we can look back on and be proud of. If you really strive, maybe you can manage to accomplish a number of things with your life.

* * *

I’ve been struggling a little bit with some conflicting changes to my identity. Over the course of the past four months or so, I’ve come to think of myself as a writer. I have dreams of publishing a series of novels that I am working on. I have dreams about continuing to do this blog writing that has been going so well, as of late. Unfortunately for me, I am still waiting for someone to come to me and say, “Gee, Phil! We’ve noticed that you have been writing a lot, lately. Here’s a year’s worth of salary; why don’t you have a go at doing it full-time for a while.”

And so, I teach.

Which isn’t to say that one is first place and the other isn’t; I surely owe my professional work for more than two-hundred paid monthly electrical bills, among other things. The friendships that I’ve made with staff and students –some of whom will read these words– are friendships that will last for a lifetime. I’ve reached into so many young minds, to plant the seeds of knowledge.

For having provided so much for me and my family, my profession wins first place.

But…

At the moment, my heart is in this writing thing one hundred percent. If that hypothetical patron did show up tomorrow to fund my full-time writing career, I would take the opportunity in an instant.

I find myself torn, just like Glenn Holland.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with my Superintendent, to discuss a few things associated with my work, and she gave me the peer survey results from a survey that she did of the staff, asking them what they thought of my work, and my contribution to the school district.

It was six pages of comments, from my coworkers and friends, about the significance of my contribution to the school district, about how much people appreciate me, about the difference I am making in the lives of my fellows.

So, there’s that.

* * *

What is your opus? What is the thing that you will be remembered, by others, for having contributed to the society? If you don’t know what it is, it’s not too late to find out. Or, if you’ve had something that you’ve been wanting to do, but you’ve been putting it off, you’ve been prioritizing other things, today might be the day when you decide to start to assemble a new opus, worthy of your dreams.

Furthermore, let me just take a moment to say that encouragement counts. Look around you and see if you can’t find someone to encourage, as they struggle toward a dream of theirs. The world seems to be drowning in seas of negativity, lately, in case you haven’t noticed; but the power of having someone cheering for you is a fuel that could start someone’s engine.

I can’t tell you how important it is, how powerful and enabling it is, to hear words of encouragement from people.

I know I said that I wasn’t going to give any more of the movie away, but…

At the end of Mr. Holland’s Opus, in the final scene of the movie, all of the things that Glenn has accomplished with his life –and here’s a hint: there’s more than two– are brought together in a single space during a single moment in time, and he gets to see what we all need to see: a life well-lived contributes. A life well-lived makes a difference.

I’m getting ready to enter my nineteenth year in education. For nineteen years, I have been significantly more productive as a teacher than I have been as a writer. For sixteen of those same nineteen years, I’ve also been a father. For all nineteen of those years, plus, I’ve been a husband. I would like to think that I’ve been able to make a difference, that I’ve contributed, in different ways, at different times.

Maybe, there is no longer a tie for first place; maybe the tie has been broken. At this moment, I feel like I have a lot in common with Glenn.