Earlier this year, something amazing happened in the mathematics community. A group of researchers proved a decades-old problem with a 13-sided shape. To be honest — I didn’t even realize it had happened. It took three days of seeing the shape appear in different posts and pictures across my news platforms to be curious enough to search for the reason why.
As I read the story, I began to wonder how many times the researchers almost gave up, if they felt the kind of exhaustion of working towards something that seems impossible even when their life’s work is to hope that it isn’t. I wonder how close they came to walking away from it. What sustained them? What pushed them to continue? Was it their collective curiosity? Was it working together as a team? Or perhaps the hope that their work would make a difference?
We seem to have our own decades-old problem on our hands - we’re working towards a vision for education that has eluded previous reforms, advocacy and accountability. And for many of our students, teachers, and selves - the exhaustion is palpable. And I wonder - what sustains us? What pushes you to not give up and walk away?
For me - it’s hope. I imagine it’s impossible to tell just how close we are to answering the question in the moments before a solution emerges. So even though I’ve been told hope isn’t a strategy, hope definitely sustains me. And who knows, we may be closer than we think….
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