People Worth Respecting.

I was overwhelmed by respect today as I sat in class, zoning out and ready for a nap. We got a couple papers back, and I smiled when I read the feedback at the top of the paper. Any teacher who will write "I learned from you!" on one of their students' papers is someone I can respect the hell out of. Yesterday I found the strangest dose of solace in conversation over the same paper that made my day today. This teacher has humility enough to sit side-by-side with his students and not only converse the course of study with them, but also, he lets their thoughts and input permeate his own. He's not too proud to learn new things everyday from those that are learning from him.

I guess you could say my these past few days have refreshed my hope and respect in the people I'm learning from, in the smiling man full of understanding that I see bright and early as well as the one I spend an hour with as the school day is approaching a close. I have the utmost, complete and total respect for these two teachers especially, who have never stopped learning. This is what a teacher should be. I see it reflected in the eyes of my mother when she talks to me about her day and her students. I see its prominence in the minds of my midday break five days a week.

I see its void in the mass of a teacher no one can miss, who lives to point the finger and refuses to be wrong. The antithesis of a teacher and yet, this woman calls herself one. Dress code holds more importance than the tears on the same body's face. A whisper is more than enough to interrupt a prayer over. Take some pointers from those men two and three rooms over, honey. Don't be too certain to read between the lines in a new way. I sat with that man at a round table and talked about two entirely different aspects of one sentence, and somehow we managed to weave them into one truth. I'm learning not only by listening, but by teaching as well.

This is what learning is supposed to be. I'm forming my own thoughts and guided by a leader, but never limited. I don't miss the subject I've always called my favorite as it was taught last year. I don't regret not taking that analysis, but I know I'll shine on it this year. Thank God for the two examples that grace my daily schedule 180 days a year. Because of them, I found out my strength (in fact, if you're here, you're a witness) and stayed rooted when shaking. I said of him that I owed him my dreams. I said of him that I owed him the presence of faith. I hold it as truth to this day.

Sometimes monotony is broken by realization.