The Grammar of Resiliency Jan 15 2023

Resilience is described as a verb, an action we take to earn the adjective of being resilient. It involves bouncing back, trying again, and standing up without any support. Resilience is something we cannot touch, but it is earned through surviving difficult situations. It becomes a habit and muscle memory. Resilience also involves facing challenges, such as insults or difficult people, and still rising above them. The grammar of resilience includes punctuation, with periods and question marks representing different aspects of the journey. Resilience is about getting back up without asking too many questions. It also involves other parts of speech, such as intensifiers and adverbs, to describe the journey of resilience. Overall, resilience is about returning to our original form after being bent or stretched, and recovering quickly without being overwhelmed. However, returning to our original form unharmed may be doubtful. The lesson concludes with describing the joyous and brave natur The grammar of resiliency. Resilience is an adjective others use to compliment our strength, optimism, and courage. Resil is a verb. The action we take to earn the adjective. Bouncing back, rising up, trying again, pulling ourselves to standing, without anything or anyone to hold on to. When all we want to do is stay down, climb under the blankets, hide in the corner, shut our eyes, pretending it's over or praying until it stops, leaves, finishes, sleeps. Resiliency is an abstract noun, a thing we cannot touch, but is ours to have and to hold in sickness and in health because we earned it by surviving. It's the invisible badge of courage, optimism, and strength that others see every time we get back up. It becomes habit, routine, and muscle memory. When we are faced with hard things, we resil, are resilient, have resiliency. To death do us part. Resiliency is also a concrete noun. Things, walls our bodies slam into before bouncing back, floors we're thrown on before pulling ourselves to standing, insults and threats spit in our face before we rise up and walk out. Places, towns we're moved to, spaces we're forced into, corners we're told to stand in, closets we hide in before we know there's an exit, a way out, a light for us to follow. And people, the scary, angry, violent, vicious, raging, addicted, hateful, jealous, sad, helpless, and desperate ones who shouldn't have been allowed around us, not to parent or babysit or teach or coach or lead or mislead. But despite them, or in spite of them, we became resilient. Then we became healers, teachers, defenders, advocates, leaders, and heroes. As an English teacher, I also see the preposition of resilience, moving through it, coming out from under it, finding a way around it, and hopefully getting over it. The grammar of resilience includes punctuation. Commas are scarce because there's not time to breathe or pause on the way to becoming resilient. Periods finish their commands and stop you from saying too much. Yes. Okay. I understand. I will. I can. I did. I have. Question marks end the screaming, shouting, calling for help. Dashes, so many dashes, constantly interrupted, never allowed to finish a thought because no one cares or wants to hear it. Question marks are for them, not you. Becoming resilient means, at some point, you got back up and asking who or when or why would get you knocked out, pinned down, or pushed up against a wall. No question. There are other parts of speech involved in resiliency. As a teacher, we don't usually describe kids as resilient because they haven't had enough time to bounce back, rise up, come up to standing. So we say they are too tough or too sensitive, too hard to teach or don't want to learn, too quiet or too loud, too much or not enough, too friendly or too shy. Too is an intensifier, meaning very or also. Those of us in education who've survived the lives some of our students are facing see those who are too shy or too loud as also instead of very. These students might also be hanging on, doing what they can, or simply using every breath and every bit of energy to survive. According to the Al Siebert Resiliency Center, to be resilient is to be able to return to original form after being bent, compressed, or stretched out of shape, to recover quickly without being overwhelmed or acting in dysfunctional or harmful ways. As a kid, I loved my stretch arm Strongdoll because my friends and I could hold his arms and legs and pull with all our might, stretching him like taffy, but then he returned to original form as soon as we let go, his superhero costume unscathed and his chiseled chin unharmed. Do we ever return to original form, unscathed and unharmed? I have my doubts. Finishing this grammar lesson is the part of speech my students struggle with the most, the one I dedicate to the resilient who resiled and embody resilience, adverbs to describe your ever after joyously, boldly, bravely, and of course, happily.