I believe I have found my calling. It is a calling that, though requiring strict discipline and steady wisdom, will lead to unfathomable rewards. What is this calling, you might ask? It is none other than swing dancing. That's right. I am going to start an organization to benefit the rhythmically challenged. I shall certainly be the foremost member, but what rhetorical energy I have shall be devoted to encouraging the crestfallen and downcast, those lost in the shadows of the graceful and elegant, those like me; for when I attempted this arguably simple dance, recalling what moves I could from past swing experiences, I began to believe that perhaps something was wrong with me. Didn't I have the same ability to understand directions that others had? Then why did my hand go one direction when it was supposed to go the other? Why did I lead the girls with whom I was dancing into fitful missteps? Happily, my unsuspecting partners were forgiving. Not me. It will take years for the scars to heal, and no one will know my pain more deeply. This is why I now commit with courage to creating an organization to assist those like me. This is my destiny. This is my calling. I ask that you join me. Thanks for reading.
My social studies students and I are studying Islam right now. The other day, we were reading about one of the Five Pillars, zakat (charity in Islam that means "that which purifies"). Muslims believe that giving away money helps to purify it and also "safeguards [them] against miserliness" (1). I asked the class if this was true, that giving money away makes us less greedy. They generally agreed that it does. I wanted to test whether or not they really believed this, so I handed a volunteer a $10 bill. I told the class that I would ask for the bill back the next day. I said that they should pass the bill around among their classmates, and that as a result, there would be no way for me to know who had the bill. For that reason, whoever wanted to keep the money could keep it. Even if I did learn who kept it, I told them, I would not punish that person. I wanted them to be motivated by their own honesty. The next day, I asked for the bill, and a student handed it to me...
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