As we reach the end of another year, some of us crawling but and some of us running comfortably, I think about what lies below our daily struggles to learn this method. And all I can think of is peace. Peace among nations.
Our country is great and beautiful and strong. But in other lands, other hearts are beating, with hopes and dreams as true and high as ours. It is in that spirit that I do this work. We are all one.
To get closer to being one with our fellow nations, it is my strong belief that we must solve the language puzzle. That is why I do this work. It’s not just a job, but a yearning that fuels my heart daily.
This yearning drives me on, even when I am exhausted at the end of another year. It drives me on to relentlessly peel off more layers of the onion that is the work of Dr. Krashen, which, in my own belief, holds the real secret to the language puzzle.
I salute all of us as we grab a breath this weekend before pushing on to the finish line of what has been one intense year, but a very satisfying one professionally with all the breakthroughs we have made together.
So here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDXNHPeRB0k
And these are the words to the Finlandia Hymn, by Jean Sibelius:
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover-leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.