TURNING MIRRORS INTO WINDOWS

 


“What a teacher is,

is more important than what he teaches.”

Karl Menninger

 

I was talking to one of my overseas ex-students, this morning. During the conversation, this dear old student, with all his good heart, was suggesting to me to expand my reach by doing this and doing that… a  dozen ideas he dished out in a few minutes. I humbly heard him out… Thanked him profusely… Then, I said to myself this: “I am presently burning with this idea… Let me only do ‘this’… and not ‘that’.”

I have seen, from my experience, that to keep the flame of your own ideas burning is very, very important. People around you, particularly when they are not of any help to you, have ideas to offer… ‘Do this and do that’…

No Sir, we should only do ‘this’…

Today is Teachers' Day… I have been receiving scores of messages… obviously, very generous, very kind words. But, as Life teaches us to value things and people only later in life, many of my students have sent their touching tributes and words of gratitude after decades… while, the young ones, who I am teaching today – surprisingly, none of them remember  to wish me!!!

It is just another working day for them… Probably, decades later, they, too, may look back and remember their teacher. But, then, I am not saying this with any bitterness… I am saying this because, in life, we all do that in every walk of life…

Do we thank our parents every day?

You see, they are alive… So, we take them for granted. Then, one day, when they are gone, our hearts get overwhelmed with gratitude (and regrets, if I may add)…

The habit of thanking the person next to me, now -  for whatever value he/she adds in our lives - is what most of us should cultivate… This is education of our hearts… The schools built inside the finest campuses, I doubt, are able to sensitize us towards this education…

To me, it’s small, little things… yes, it’s only small little things that matter more when it comes to education.





This morning, I told my overseas friend, who was dishing out ideas, that my only prayer today would be this: “God, give me the strength, wisdom and focus to do whatever is doable within my reach… Let me not be tempted by the ‘distant scene’.”

We all have been students… we still are… and we shall always be. To me, this state of being ever-teachable in life is lifelong schooling… If so, imagine the teachers that come to teach us, all through this schooling!!!

Bob Talbert says: “Teaching kids to count is fine; but, teaching them what counts is best.”

To teach my students ‘what counts’… Well, where did I learn that from?

“What a teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.”

With these words of Karl Menninger, let me rest this case called – ‘Happy Teachers' Day’…




GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic’s: Pixabay

Video: Aditya Birla Group

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