teacher
Be the change you want to see in the world.
He never told us that directly, but it was one of the many things we've learned from him and still are. I don't think any of us have ever met anyone with so much fullness in his life before. He's enriching us with so many insights on life that none of us have ever sought to entertain. He introduced himself to us as a friend rather than a teacher and tus cringes at being addressed as "sir". Just one of those few truly amazing and inspiring people you meet in your lifetime.
I start to rethink what it is that makes a true teacher. Classroom lessons, sure; but how about what's truly important? What about life? The outside world? Reality? They're things we can't simply learn from books or cannot answer objectively in exams- and yet, they're the ones that we'll need when we're out to really live. That idea also makes you start thinking over what is more significant. Another thing that I believe makes for a true teacher is putting his desire for you to learn over his personal benefit. When one emanates this passion for teaching, students are inspired to learn and they do learn- willingly, at that. This is opposed to the student learning for fear of consequences if he does otherwise.
But really, I think that one of the best forms of a teacher is the one that does not mean to teach and doesn't even know that others have learned/are learning from him/her(or even it).
I've only met a few true teachers in my life, and no, not necessarilly graduates with an education degree or licensed educators. Some are children, some are very old people, some are my friends, some did not even have an education, some come in the form of events, and so many more. Sometimes the path to enlightenment takes some letting go of useless pride and some support from your "teachers". I've been learning a lot about life and myself recently and it's rather interesting.
For the first few weeks I've been nothing but a bland student to both school and life; learning, listening, memorizing, answering. After a while, I realized that I've been so accustomed to such protocol that I've carried them over with me to somewhere which seeks something deeper. Despite my distaste for such an action, I actually initially rejected change. I questioned and pushed; why this and why that. I actually had what I thought I never did: useless pride. It gets you nowhere. I've slowly opened up to what deeper things school and life has to offer ever since I've gone all Light Yagami on things ("Useless pride, I discard it."~Light, Death Note. Haha!)
There are so many things life has to offer, and I've been given only a small taste of it. We should listen more to these teachers to get a better understanding for when the time comes to swim freely on our own- and maybe even be a teacher to someone else.
This long post is dedicated to the teachers of my life, especially my current pol sci prof (the one my first paragraph was referring to) who is truly an inspiration and a great friend to us all. Please include him in your prayers if you can, he's going through treatment for 2nd stage leukemia. It's hard and heartbreaking to hear a grown man tell you he's scared, and not for himself moreover, but for his beautiful family. Life can be unfair like that, especially to the people that seem to deserve it more than most. There are just some discrepancies like that that make me doubt God's mercy and judgement sometimes, but even He's a great teacher in my life that only recently (ya rly.) I've started to truly accept and appreciate.
Thanks for taking the time to read/scan this entry if you did.
~eri
He never told us that directly, but it was one of the many things we've learned from him and still are. I don't think any of us have ever met anyone with so much fullness in his life before. He's enriching us with so many insights on life that none of us have ever sought to entertain. He introduced himself to us as a friend rather than a teacher and tus cringes at being addressed as "sir". Just one of those few truly amazing and inspiring people you meet in your lifetime.
I start to rethink what it is that makes a true teacher. Classroom lessons, sure; but how about what's truly important? What about life? The outside world? Reality? They're things we can't simply learn from books or cannot answer objectively in exams- and yet, they're the ones that we'll need when we're out to really live. That idea also makes you start thinking over what is more significant. Another thing that I believe makes for a true teacher is putting his desire for you to learn over his personal benefit. When one emanates this passion for teaching, students are inspired to learn and they do learn- willingly, at that. This is opposed to the student learning for fear of consequences if he does otherwise.
But really, I think that one of the best forms of a teacher is the one that does not mean to teach and doesn't even know that others have learned/are learning from him/her(or even it).
I've only met a few true teachers in my life, and no, not necessarilly graduates with an education degree or licensed educators. Some are children, some are very old people, some are my friends, some did not even have an education, some come in the form of events, and so many more. Sometimes the path to enlightenment takes some letting go of useless pride and some support from your "teachers". I've been learning a lot about life and myself recently and it's rather interesting.
For the first few weeks I've been nothing but a bland student to both school and life; learning, listening, memorizing, answering. After a while, I realized that I've been so accustomed to such protocol that I've carried them over with me to somewhere which seeks something deeper. Despite my distaste for such an action, I actually initially rejected change. I questioned and pushed; why this and why that. I actually had what I thought I never did: useless pride. It gets you nowhere. I've slowly opened up to what deeper things school and life has to offer ever since I've gone all Light Yagami on things ("Useless pride, I discard it."~Light, Death Note. Haha!)
There are so many things life has to offer, and I've been given only a small taste of it. We should listen more to these teachers to get a better understanding for when the time comes to swim freely on our own- and maybe even be a teacher to someone else.
This long post is dedicated to the teachers of my life, especially my current pol sci prof (the one my first paragraph was referring to) who is truly an inspiration and a great friend to us all. Please include him in your prayers if you can, he's going through treatment for 2nd stage leukemia. It's hard and heartbreaking to hear a grown man tell you he's scared, and not for himself moreover, but for his beautiful family. Life can be unfair like that, especially to the people that seem to deserve it more than most. There are just some discrepancies like that that make me doubt God's mercy and judgement sometimes, but even He's a great teacher in my life that only recently (ya rly.) I've started to truly accept and appreciate.
Thanks for taking the time to read/scan this entry if you did.
~eri