Reflection in Living, Loving, And Learning by Leo Buscaglia Essay

Living, Loving, and Learning: Buscaglia Reflection While reading Leo Buscaglia's book, Living, Loving & Learning, I was able to reflect back on some of the experiences I have had in my life that have helped to make me the person I am today, and I was able to look into the future at what I would like to become. I was able to see how well I know myself and what I have to offer others. I was able to see the things I don't like about myself and determine some of the ways I can make myself better. This is some of what reflecting on my life and looking ahead while reading Buscaglia has taught me. A. "You Cannot give to anybody what you do not have." I went to Juab High School in the small town of Nephi, Utah. Like many other small town high schools, football coaches and P.E. teachers doubled as Algebra teachers and Science teachers. This allowed our school to make full use of the limited teachers and resources that it had. There was a lot of talented people that taught at Juab and some of them made great teachers and coaches, but some of them didn't. Sometimes it ended up that the football coach/algebra teacher cared a little more about tomorrow's football game than he did about ensuring his algebra students knew how to balance equations, and sometimes the P.E./Science teacher cared a little more about the teaching the tennis unit than she did about teaching the four life processes. Those teachers were also the ones that had to relearn the algebra and science lessons a few days before they taught them to us, because on paper they were qualified to do the job, but as far as knowing the material and having an interest in what they were trying to give to us, nothing was there. Have you ever tried to get someone excited about a subject that you knew nothing about? Have you ever had a math teacher that sent you across the hall to get help from someone else because he didn't understand what he was trying to teach you? It can be pretty hard sometimes to get excited about something if your teacher doesn't get excited about it. These teachers tried to give us something that they didn't have. When I was in middle school I had another teacher that tried to give us what she didn't have. She was the health teacher, but because of some addictions to drugs, she really wasn't very healthy. It was sad, because she taught us from the book t... ...t a fantastic one." (Buscaglia 83) I chose this quote from the writings of Buscaglia because it ties up all of his ideas into one little bundle. If you were to give someone a gift and then watched them neglect it, abuse it, or destroy it, your feelings would be hurt and you would be pretty upset. But if you were able to see them show it off to their friends, love it, and take care of it, you would feel like that person appreciated the gift and it would be almost like a gift to you. Upon reading this quote is where I took the opportunity to look into the future. The gift that God gave me is a wonderful one. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing my life as being wonderful because I make so many mistakes. But life is wonderful because life is about making mistakes. It is what we do with them that is important. I know that God always sees me as being wonderful. God loves me. He gave me life. God wants me, and every other person, to become the very best that we can be, and then to become even better. He wants us to nurture life, to love life, and to live it. Let's do our best. Works Cited Buscaglia, Leo. Living, Loving, Learning. Ballantine Books (1985).