[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!
Melanie Faith
Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.
Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.
The Society of Professional Journalists
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.
Maxine Greene
Philosopher and Education Scholar
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Patience
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These are your greatest treasures. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. – Lao-Tzu
Why is patience so difficult?
Waiting
Goethe tells us, “Do not hurry. Do not rest.” We live in a state of constant hurry and resting feels like an act of rebellion. Waiting is the middle space between hurry and rest. Waiting is the time when action and expectation take a deep breath. At the point of waiting, there is nothing more to be done – the line cycles through, the result will be revealed in time, and the proof will be in the pudding. Waiting requires trust and acceptance, which are the heart of patience.
No Immediate Results
Immediate results are intoxicating. Seeing the fruit of our labor as soon the labor is done. Knowing the answer to the question the minute it is asked. Watching a tadpole become a frog much faster than nature provides. Immediate results motivate. Immediate results encourage. Immediate results light a fire. Patience enters in when results are timely and measured. Patience enters in when results might require a trial and error approach to continuing a task.
Giving Up Control
Patience requires we hand over control. The patient person understands the fallacy of control. The patient person does not seek to control, but rather to collaborate and contribute. The patient person lives in a flexible way, twisting and bending yet holding tight to their truth.
The Long View
Taking the long view is antithetical to the speed at which many of us live. Patience thinks about return on investment over time. Patience does not get distracted by small rocks when trying to move big stones. Patience uses the language of judging and weighing. Patience thinks in terms of generations.
About Katie
From Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
