I did initially
hesitate to reveal this, fearing humiliation, but today be it universally known
that the teaching profession is one of my very few personal frustrations. I had
always wanted to become a teacher when I was in elementary but when I held
Pongkie’s guitar in high school, I envisioned myself instead as a rock and roll
sensation.
The imposing images
in my rich young mind of all my early tutors in their various national uniforms
all vanished therefrom simply too soon.
They were replaced by the unruly crowd of pretty faces of young girls
who would shriek and swoon as they watch my concert in my wild imagination.
But although I
secretly aspired to reach even just a tiny fraction of stature and fame
enviably earned by John, Paul, George and Ringo, I have firmly believed in my
heart too that teaching is the noblest of all calling but at the same time the
most difficult job to do.
It’s because I
understand it’s not easy to mold dreams of any kind. It’s because it’s always a
Herculean task to hone and engrave a human mind.
I totally agree
with many people that indeed experience is the best teacher. And I’m so
grateful for every moment with those ones worthy to remember. Their words would
often linger in memory. Their faces and figures are always here to stay.
And although there
were some teachers whose moments with them others would not consider a
privilege, yet in general I always have high regard for those men and women of
whom I was under tutelage. Doubtless I’m
wholeheartedly convinced they were the best in their time, the way I believe
that the most beautiful girls I met were a love of mine.
Even during the
lowest times in my life when I was neither here, there nor everywhere, there
were some individuals from yesterday who are likewise unforgettable teachers.
They were the ones who taught me how to buy and burn illegal stuff now legal in
Denver, and guided me to earn my doctorate degree right after becoming a
drunken master.
Hence, I pity those
‘classmates,’ some of whom I still see now, who liked to shout then ‘We don’t
need no education’ or ‘Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!’ during a roll call.
They are the early birds that were catching a worm too much too soon, but now
on a free fall, flying no more, bashing their heads in regret against another
brick in the wall.
Shame on him or her
whoever coined a teacher as public enemy number one among mankind. Not just a few gullible souls were swayed to fully
believe it in their sub-conscious mind.
Yesterday, whether
in feast or in strife, a teacher to me was always larger than life. Allow me to say, almost all those mentors of
mine, they were all a hero of our time. They were also underpaid and the most
abused in the field of professionals, yet they worked hard, with diligence and
dedication, even for the lesser mortals.
I fervently hope
and pray every teacher in the whole country today would continue to run the
torch of passion for wisdom and virtue by the educators of yesterday. The
latter mostly were women of sacrifice, who deliberately forgot earthly passion
and personal glory, that the next generation would seek their paths rightly.
Yeah, most public teachers
of old were not driven by money. People
thought they get rich if they marry a seaman only.
I can never be a
professional teacher anymore, tomorrow, much less today, due to compelling
reasons and botched opportunity. Nevertheless, for those who wish for eternal
glory, who knows, I may also teach, point and lead on somebody.
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