HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HIM HEAR

 

“Everyone is a genius. 

But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, 

it will spend its whole life believing that its stupid.”

Albert Einstein

 

When I was a student in school or college, did my teachers show any discrimination when they taught us? My college classroom had more than hundred students… My teachers (we called them lecturers, and here, in Mumbai, they call them Professors) taught whatever subjects they taught with equal dedication and passion. But, as is the case always, some students picked things extremely well, some fairly well… and some, like me, limped behind…

I wasn’t a bright or even an average student… I was just limping, as I said.

That said, after my F.Y B. Com, inspired by my teachers, I started developing an unusual interest in subjects like Accountancy and English. It’s because, by then, I was burning with a desire to become a fine teacher and also a writer…

So, my own desire did it… Till then, I was just there in the classroom – the crowd – just limping and dragging myself.

And, after several decades, when the roles have changed, now, I see in my own classroom – the crowd – some bright, some average and some just how I was at their age. So, every time, some of them fail or score very less in the subject I teach them – I don’t lose hopes. I know, how I developed my interest and self-confidence… and, I tell them about it. As Jesus Christ said after telling the crowd the Parable of the Sower – I, too, conclude… “He who has ears, let him hear.”

 

 

 

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

The Sower went out to sow seeds… Some seeds fell on the roadside; when people walked over them, those seeds died. Some seeds fell on the rocky area, where there was less soil. So, even though the seeds sprouted, when the Sun came up, they got burnt and died. Some seeds fell among the thorns. These seeds, when sprang up, gut shunted by the thorns, and they died, too. And, there were many seeds which fell on the fertile soil… These seeds rose up to all their glory.

 

After telling this story, the Master had added: “He who has ears, let him hear.”

I have three Catholic students in my eleventh-standard batch… All of them have joined St. Andrew’s College in Bandra (Catholic quota, that is!). Neither this great college nor this private teacher have discriminated among our students as far as our teaching is concerned… The same dedication and passion… the same love and concern for our students. Still, last night, one of my Andrew’s students messaged me: “Sir, my Accounts marks have come: I got 18 out of 50.”

It was late in the night. I could have consoled the boy, saying, “Don’t worry dear; all will be alright, sleep…” etc. But, I wrote this:

“So, my dear: What has to be done, now? Gerry Sir has to work doubly harder, na?”

“No, no Sir,” the Andrew’s boy replied, “I have to work doubly harder.”

I asked the young man to get his question paper when he was expected this morning.

The question paper was brought… It was the simplest of the simplest paperers I had ever come across in my teaching years… Looking at my two other Andrew’s students, I teased, “Did you guys, too, fail in this paper?”

“Sirrr… I got 48,” one reacted, “Sirrr, I got 49,” declared other.

Well, I hate to compare my students with what they score in the my  subject… I remember myself, every time a young kid limps and drags himself…

You see, the soil has to be fertile for the seeds to spring up gloriously. I do not know what this 18/50 Andrew’s young kid will become in life – an Accountant or a teacher like me, a farmer, film producer or a preacher like Jesus Christ…

One doesn’t know… I can never know, Sir…

For now, I have asked my 18-wala boy to learn well and write the same paper well again and show when he comes to me next…

Let’s see. If he has ears, let him hear it… Just as the Master said to the crowd…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: pixabay

 

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