Inspired by Leonard Cohen: A tribute to Early Education Professionals

I threw a CD in the player the other morning as it is part of my routine before stepping onto my electronic bike and peddling eight miles to nowhere in the basement of my Salisbury home. On this particular morning I put on a Leonard Cohen in Concert CD. Now I know most of you reading this blog have no clue who Leonard Cohen is, because basically, you have to be pretty old and probably have some history as a hippie to know his music. I, of course, qualify on both counts.


At about mile six in my never-ending quest for fitness, the song Suzanne began to play. Toward the end of the song, are the following lyrics:

There are heroes in the seaweed;
There are children in the morning.
They are leaning out for love,
And they will lean that way forever;
While Suzanne holds the mirror.

Peddling on through mile seven, I continued mulling these lyrics through my head and as I did, I conceived the following adaptation:

There are heroes in the classroom;
There are children in the morning.
They are leaning out for love,
And they will lean that way forever;
While their teachers hold the mirror.


The way I see it, early childhood educators are heroes. Scholars in the early years of human development, they influence the lives of children through those precious years when 80% of brain growth occurs. I picture them, the hundreds of thousands of them in our country, walking through the doors of their classrooms each morning, and I marvel at the tremendous impact they have on our society. Though they receive very little societal credit for this, they quietly go about the business of loving, guiding and educating our youngest citizens and providing the experiences that build the brain structure and emotional foundation that will be the base and reference point for all future growth and development. Children will forever be leaning out for love, and our early childhood educators will continue to hold the mirror in an effort to reflect the joy, the needs and the importance of these early years of life.

This blog is dedicated to the early education teachers of Rowan County.

Katherine Generaux, Community Inclusion Director