This is not a fairy tale. This is a true story of a person we will call Bill, who came to know and be mentored by two other individuals, Bob and Jim. Jim came into Bill’s life first and had so much knowledge to share and was very willing to do so. Bill would make mistakes – in fact on a fairly regular basis, but Jim was always there to help out and to show Bill the way. In fact despite the fact that Bill wondered if he would ever be as good as Jim he was very happy to have someone around to show him where he was going wrong. Later in Bills life he had another mentor. His name was Bob.
Honor your Teachers
“No matter what accomplishments you achieve somebody helped you.” Althea Gibson
No matter who we are or what we have done there has always been someone or several others who have helped in some way. It may have been as simple as an encouraging word, offering us an insight that got us unstuck on a problem, or a gift of another sort that allowed us to move forward. However given the society that we live in sometimes we forget that we can accomplish nothing without the help of others.
Help comes in so many different ways and lessons learned from unsuspecting teachers. I know that I have learned lessons from the animal world, observing them, reading about their habits have made me realize things that would be difficult to learn from another human. Our help may have come from a personal disability or from knowing someone who has gone through an experience that we have not experienced.
Every moment is a learning moment, and then we can honor our teachers by thinking about our own personal teachers. As we think about them it is appropriate to let them know if possible that you appreciate them even if it is by just speaking about that experience to others. Recounting the value of the teacher out loud to others really firms up the sense of gratitude and happiness for all that you have been given.
For my students, honor your teachers this month with us at BLS, by inviting them to our Teacher Appreciation Week. This is an opportunity for you to say, “Thank you for being my teacher.”