09/02/2026
I often chip apart situations, kind of like a sculptor. I find myself seeing the current reality and then thinking about the layers of choices and circumstances, and even mishaps, that have come together to create the shape of what I am looking at in the present.
I get my wondering wedge stuck right in there, and I start chipping away at the possibilities and the conditions.
I wonder if you know what I mean, or if you do this, too.
For some of the kids at my school, I wondered what would have happened to them if they were at a different school with strict rules about when students could enter, for example, when our school was far more flexible than most. Most schools demand students wait outside the classroom doors until the bell rings, but some of their parents couldn’t afford childcare and needed to leave by 7:00am.
What if their neighbourhood school had no breakfast and hot lunch program?
What if their school did not have a clothing room, like ours did, where parents could “shop” for what they needed?
What if the school they went to had no subsidized after school programs that allowed them access to a soccer program and a community arts program at no cost?
I do this chipping away with my own life, too.
My excessive what-if’s drive my husband nuts sometimes, but, it’s that “by the Grace of God – or something – go I” thing. It’s good fortune. It’s chance. I know I am fortunate and have extra layers of possibility that so many don’t have.
So, I find myself pondering the “what-if’s”: what if I wasn’t born here? What if I weren’t white? What if I were born with a physical disability? What if my home country was at war? Where would I be?
I hope you get the Substack app and read my piece. I write about our connectedness as a society. Our social health. I write about why I’m worried about our kids’ future health and happiness and also about the very best in us.
Join me. It’s free to read and/or subscribe. Let’s grow some good together.
