I seldom have the opportunity to watch movies, but when I find one I like, I often watch it more than once, to the point that I know some of the lines. My first such experience was probably the original black-and-white version of Miracle on 34th Street. Because it used to play every year on one of the cable channels, it was easy to watch it over and over. The line "put them here" (said by the judge who wants evidence about the US Postal Service's recognition of Kris Kringle as Santa Claus) has been used in our family for years - including the hand gesture marking the place something is to be put.
When I read Dr. Debra Hanna's article in the July/August issue of Nursing Education Perspectives (Hanna, 2019), I recalled how important films can be in helping us learn about nursing or a concept we need to consider. Some movies, as Hanna points out, allow us to learn about the pedagogy of contextualization (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010). This learning is focused on the clues we pick up in various situations. Those details can provide a context for what is said or happening.
With that information in mind, let me share with you how I see the power of yet. The movie, The Blind Side, is the story of the football player Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron). To make a long story short, he is adopted by Sean (played by Tim McGraw) and Leigh Anne (played by Sandra Bullock) Tuohy. Michael is black and, in essence, homeless. The Tuohys are a well-to-do family of four and white. At one point, Leigh Anne learns that Michael has a great football career ahead of him if he can raise his grade point average to a sufficient level to get into college. To achieve that goal, Miss Sue (played by Kathy Bates) arrives to tutor Michael. One evening at home, Miss Sue is working with Michael, helping him to answer a math question correctly. As most of us do when we don't get something right away, Michael says he doesn't understand. Miss Sue replies: "Yet. You don't understand it yet!"
Let's think about that for a moment. The second definition provided for yet by the Merriam Webster Dictionary (2019) is up to now, so far. The idea of so far conveys hope. Think what that message can do for learners who don't get something right away. It is about yet. Many of us get second chances in all sorts of ways. Why not in learning? And yes, we do give second chances in learning but often without the inspiration and power of the word yet.
Think of the numerous powerful messages of hope we can give: We haven't found a cure for cancer - yet. We can't always control what our bodies might do - yet. Or what our minds might do - yet. We don't always get the positions we hope for - yet. Students don't always get the grades they hope for - yet.
The meaning of the word yet gives us hope that we will cure cancer, that we can always be in control of ourselves, that we can secure the positions we want, and that students can get great grades. Yet provides us with the hope for tomorrow that we will be a better society, that we will have more nurses wanting to be educators, and that we will always be able to say and do the right things for our students and patients. We just aren't there - yet.
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