Michael Venske

Recently I was sitting in McDonald’s binge eating and…

Directly across from me sat a single mother with her 2-year-old daughter. The girl was drinking chocolate milk and the mother was taking pictures of herself with her smart phone. The little girl accidently dropped the cup and milk splashed across the floor.

The little girl began scrunching her face preparing for an epic meltdown. Not noticing the spill or her daughter’s rising anxiety the mother is still playing with her phone. Fearing a tantrum I scoot over to the spill with a handful of napkins.

The mother notices me near her feet, sees the spill, and joins me on the floor. After sixty seconds the spill is gone and the floor is clean again. The mother and I return to our respective table and chairs. Across the aisle we smile at each other.

Somewhere between the spicy chicken sandwich or double cheese burger I was lost in a daydream. I thought of my future family, wife and child, running errands when something happens and they need a little help. I’d want a good samaritan to step forward and help my wife.

All of this reminds me about Gandhi’s fake quote:

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

It wasn’t until I was in that moment on the floor cleaning up milk that it clicked. Cleaning the spill took seconds, didn’t cost anything, and by helping them they were helping me.

This realization took my breath away. It’s what we need to do! Let’s not spend time wishing coulda/shoulda/woulda, but get on it. Make it happen!

Pick up a piece of trash. Help someone cross the road. Listen with your whole heart. Share a hug.

Just try. Even trying a little, okay? Then try again.

I ordered an ice cream cone to-go and slowly walked back to the school. The sun was shining 70 degrees warm. It was beautiful outside, I’d helped a stranger, thought of being a family man, AND was eating ice cream! Win-win-win-win!

Michael

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake-maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

Do you have a quip or question? Click here and send Michael a message.

Image from KidsTravel2

This afternoon coming home from class I saw two fourth grade boys fighting with sticks on the football field. One of the sticks was a quarter longer than the other’s.

The one with the longer stick saw me watching and in a simple expression said there’s a teacher coming with the Universal I’m-in-trouble-now look.

I said hello and waved them over to the track. The boys slowly approached, shoulders drooping. They thought I was going to take their sticks. Which I did.

Standing the sticks next to each other I saw I needed to remove twelve inches from the fallen branch. I broke the limb over my knee and measured once more. With both sticks now roughly the same height I was pleased the boys could engage in a fair fight.

Handing the boy his wooden “rapier” I took the other stick in hand. For the next 60 seconds we had an impromptu fencing session. However, the lesson ended with a small puncture wound and blood!

Embarrassed I returned the stick to it’s original owner and hurried home to get myself a bandage! There’s just no teaching a natural!

As I’ve mentioned here, students in China receive copious amounts of homework and minuscule moments of play. Instead of yelling at them for playing with sticks or shouting about poking an eye out, by demonstrating fairness and an appreciation for play I hope these lessons are taken to heart.

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake-maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

Do you have a quip or question? Click here and send Michael a message.

BACKSTORY

In November I was asked to help with the school’s Christmas pageant on December 24th. Each grade, sixth through eighth, would present two 10-minute plays: one in Chinese, the other in English.

Sixth graders were doing a scene from Pride and Prejudice, seventh graders were rocking Hamlet, and eighth grade wanted to do a comedy. They also wanted the comedy to be Romeo and Juliet.

Huh.

As you may have guessed I was unable to find comedy gold in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Instead I wrote a short about a group of eighth graders rehearsing R & J for the first time, specifically the balcony scene. The short featured a Romeo completely unfamiliar with the play, a Juliet uninterested in Romeo, miscast understudies, an overbearing director, and a stage manager close to a nervous breakdown.

Maybe a week or two before the performance the eighth grader playing the director decided the play wasn’t for him. This happened the same day our play needed to be previewed for the leaders of the school. With no student familiar with the part I jumped at the opportunity to be an over-the-top overbearing director!

The reason I’m telling you this so late after the fact is because last week I was trolling the school’s website and found this article about the Christmas pageant performances. (You can use Google Chrome to translate their site for free.)

Unbeknownst to me the short play I wrote, “Something Something Juliet,” won two awards: best performance and most creative. Three of the students in the play won awards for being the best and outstanding actors. I won a “best actor” award too!

Teacher Michael personally appeared in “Something Something Juliet,” winning the scene bursts of applause.

Throughout the rehearsal process an increase in hours were spent at school working on each play. The casts would meet over lunch and we’d run their show. We’d meet before dinner and run their show. We’d walk through it, run it, and run it again. The students worked really hard!

Though the other teachers worried I was working too hard without much rest or an increase in compensation. What I had to continually explain to my Chinese friends was:

WHEN YOU DO WHAT YOU LOVE…

1. Money doesn’t matter
2. Awards don’t matter
3. It’s invigorating
4. Time always passes quickly
5. Excitement is contagious
6. It never feels like work

Whenever I return to the United States I’m going to focus more on the above. Not just these six things, but continuing to work with kids on stage. The process of developing new work collaboratively with student actors rocks!

What is it that you love? What are you pretty damn great at?

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake-maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

Do you have a quip or question? Click here and send Michael a message.

In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society Robert Williams’ character instructs his students to tear out the entire introduction to their poetry book.

Recently I had a similar-but-different type moment in a fourth grade class.

One of the pages in the textbook was never even attached!

(…and this discovery was funny as hell!)

Not all things are made to last or for perfection, but this is a memory that’s done both.

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake-maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

Do you have a quip or question? Click here and send Michael a message.

Yesterday during my five minute “commute” between class and home I saw seven girls sitting where the football field meets the track. They appeared to be hovering over a drainage grate.

As it turns out, they were surrounding an injured girl who tripped and fell on the cement and steel drainage grating.

The girl’s left leg was extended and she had her face buried in her elevated right knee. She was crying. On her sweatpants you could see stains from where her tears fell. The girl’s friends surrounded her in solidarity, but unsure of what to do they didn’t seek help. Maybe they worried they’d get in trouble.

The girl’s knee was inflamed, but not broken. She was experiencing a moderate amount of pain. Though I suspected her tears were the result of feeling afraid.

So I scooped the girl into my arms. All the other fourth graders cheered and screamed in delight. Then the girl stopped crying and started laughing. Her friends followed us across the football field, through the playground and into the flirtatious school nurse’s office.

When I entered the nurse’s office with the girl in my arms I felt like a hero.

Feeling like a hero doesn’t take much either. When someone needs help, offer what you can.

What small act can you do today to be a hero for someone?

Have a heroic tale to tell? Leave a comment and tell me about it!

Michael

MICHAEL VENSKE is an expert mistake-maker whose faith and enthusiasm cause him to leap without looking. One such jump landed him in China where he’s currently teaching kindness, compassion, and the fine art of physical comedy.

Do you have a quip or question? Click here and send Michael a message.