Throughout our lives, someone is always observing, correcting or teaching us something.

     Everywhere! At home: “Did you look over your homework? This is how you flush the toilet. Make the bed this way.”

At school: “Your assignment is to review three chapters of your history book. Your grade is . . . This is how many errors I found.”

At work: “Look this over before you send it in. Let’s schedule an IPR (In Progress Review). I’ll inspect it when you’re done.”

From our first steps, a parent wants to see if we can maneuver the right way at the designated age range. Our education requires us to pass tests after studying the materials. Our abilities and how we follow the rules are observed and corrected. In our jobs and careers, opportunities for advancement only come after we’ve proven that we are up to the task.

Life demands reviews!

Present day technology has brought some changes in how we look things over. We can now hit that button on our email or document dashboard to review the spelling, word count, or grammar before we send them out. All of these things have become a part of how we operate and stay in sync with the times.

Yet, eventually, there’s a time for us to personally examine what we’ve done. Did this ritual, test, or passage happen at the right time? Was my best effort put into this academic, career or life test? Then what’s my assessment? Like many, I’ve passed some exams and flunked others, educationally as well as experientially as I’ve transited through my life journey.

For me, many of the places I’ve moved through and how I performed are rooted in my 1950’s - 1970’s upbringing in a society that grappled with many critical social issues, particularly around race and gender.

Some of my writings focus on a point in time for different stages of my life, which provide a journal-like quality in reflection. From my childhood traditions to religion, my education to my time as a soldier, and my work in the community— all have meaning.  What does this all show from the collections of our lives?  That the ability to track our learning and goal achievement is important.
We should give honor to those who’ve instructed us…good or bad…there’s a lesson.