There are a couple of posts on this blog about the effects we can have on people and not even know it, how an action creates an effect, maybe even years downstream.
A kind word, an interest in something that
another picks up on, a random act of kindness, or a career of helping
youngsters develop as a teacher might do. Only once in a while do those who
create those situations ever see the results and when they do, it is immensely gratifying
and a source of pride, a source for a smile, maybe even a tear or two.
My friend Gail Somerville taught in the
Watts area of Los Angeles for 11 years in the late 60s and early 70s. Then
she moved to Anchorage and taught there for another 35 years.
Just recently totally out of the blue she
received an email from a former student, someone who is now around 50 years old
and had been in her third-grade class in Watts in 1972.
Let that email speak for itself:
"Hiiiiiiiiiii
Ms. Somervillle.... I'm crying. I'm sooo happy to see you. This is Terri ….
You were my 3rd grade teacher at 95th street school. Ummmm 1972 I think. You
were my absolutely favvvvvvorite teacher throughout school. Me and another
classmate always speak about 95th and the good old days. Those were fond
memories. You had all the animals in your class. Especially the baby chicks.
And the snakes. I would win the spelling bee contest you had. I remember I
spelled " received RECIEVED. And you knew I got that one wrong on my
paper, but you asked me to spell it out loud and I spelled it correctly. You
still gave me an "A"... And you let me win the spelling Bee
contest.... I loved you in my heart ALLLLLLLL these years. . You took us to the
malls and Lion Country Safari. We went so many places I can't remember. But I
know you were the first to expose me to a lot of things, People, places outside
our neighborhood that my parents back then couldn't expose us to. Thank you for
being the loving kind person you were to me and all of your students...I will
try to find a picture of me in grade school....
Much luv Terri
[smile emoticon]"
Now think of this, think of all the youngsters who have
passed through Gail's classes in more than 40 years of teaching and all the kids who have passed through all the classes. Could anyone
possibly remember each student she ever taught? Gail has no recollection of
this particular student. No recollection of her in class and yet she had such a
profound effect on a third grader's life. If she had this powerful influence on
one such student just imagine how many others have the exact same feelings to
some degree or another.
Ponder too, the neighborhood where that child lived and went
to school and where Gail was teaching and the general impression of what the
Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles is to most of us even today. It was a tough
place to teach and a tough place to be a child growing up. It was also a place where a teacher
could have a positive influence on a great number of children and an email out
of the past from a former student confirms it. Consider that, too, against the background of what has been going on in several American cities over the past week or so.
And, too, imagine how that makes the teacher feel. No need to imagine, here is what Gail had to say about it:
"Getting a letter like this serves, again, as a special reminder that we usually never know who our actions and words will have an impact on, so it is important, especially as teachers, to be careful in how we treat other people. She said she was crying. Now I am crying while grinning from ear to ear. I am so touched. :)"
And, too, imagine how that makes the teacher feel. No need to imagine, here is what Gail had to say about it:
"Getting a letter like this serves, again, as a special reminder that we usually never know who our actions and words will have an impact on, so it is important, especially as teachers, to be careful in how we treat other people. She said she was crying. Now I am crying while grinning from ear to ear. I am so touched. :)"
My daughter taught in an inner city school in the Bronx for four years. She was fresh out of Columbia University and ready to take on the world, in this case just a corner of it: 7th and 8th graders in English and history. She spent her own money to buy them supplies, especially books that she carefully chose for them. School administration officials did not tell her what to do or how to teach because they didn't care. But my daughter did. I expect that one day she will get a letter like that. It changed her, too, being there. Works both ways.
ReplyDeleteDear Gail is one of my favorite people, a truly giving and caring person who always lights up a room with her big beautiful smile!
ReplyDelete