Recently, a few of my students and I engaged in a discussion of the film, But I’m A Cheerleader. While the film had little to do with actually being a cheerleader, it did get me thinking about who the cheerleaders are in my life, who I am a cheerleader for, and the role of cheerleaders in our lives.

It got me thinking back to high school, which for some of us is longer ago than others, and one thing I remembered is that when they were on the field they were always smiling. It did not matter whether the home team was winning or losing, they just kept smiling. It seemed as if on the days when our home school team was doing the worst, they came in smiling and cheering louder and more enthusiastically than ever. We may have thought the situation was hopeless, but their enthusiasm and cheering made you continue to hope for and cheer for the players on the field.