They paint the life of their disciples with colours of learning and lessons for a lifetime. The subjects they teach are mere excuses to intervene in the life of the students. As we say in this age, even Google can teach you the syllabus, a teacher teaches you about life. What makes teachers such a strange species? What conspires in their mind and what makes them walk the extra miles? Who is their Muse? Let's find out!
Teachers are such unique creations that you can consider them on a higher pedestal than a mother. This is not an exaggeration but a realization felt through life as a teacher, among teachers. The complicated life and sometimes the out-of-control circumstances, contexts, and views bring a strange moment for parents. They give up on their children. The modern age (in fact the modern Lost-Generation) has brought these uncomfortable truths. Even a mother loses hope and even curbs the compassion for the child when there is no 'return' to her efforts and sacrifices. This may even happen as the parent had her own reasons to feel detached from the child, of course, born to her.
But, there remains one creature, who does not give up, at all! I mean to say of course the TEACHER. This person gets ready for the job, reaches the school, and then starts a life of and for others who come 'uniformed' in their needs and expectations. The skin or the status can bear any colour, but the kids who come to the institution have one thing in common - they need someone to guide and trust them. Teachers, not the hired individuals, have done their best and we have been trying our best to survive through this disastrous time just because we got to learn something worth living for. I wonder what I do by talking to the kids in the morning and through noon? What difference my community is able to make by conducting the classes online? The answer is that we are able to show them that YES! There is Hope. Our intervention might be the only purpose of the day for hundreds of them. This is where the value comes, worth arises and confidence booms.
Still, the gap remains. The canvas is not settled and the colours look dull to the eyes. There seems to be a constant doubt and fear in us, but we still have the determination to keep on playing the violin, even if the ship seems sinking. Ours, might not - it will certainly survive amid this storm of loss. The bewilderment of the world, the purposelessness, and the trust deficit, that prevail all around speak of what has been missing. Either, Teachers are not there or they are not competent enough to make a serious intervention. The procrastination, as well as the 'pessimistic' approach, have done much worse. We shall talk of the 'blind minds' later. This is a day, a moment to celebrate the ones who MATTER and Add the Spark to learning, in the classrooms, far beyond the classrooms.
These Heroes are the ones who look beyond the horizons. They paint the days and darings of their disciples with their own colours. These are the colours of life, colours of lessons and the colours of positivity. The spirit of Carpe Diem and Dare to Dream is the fuel in their efforts. As artists, they conspire to impact small lives. You know, it does not happen consciously, rather it occurs when the teacher is earnestly unaware of the benevolence happening.
A teacher is an Originator who creates. He does not use the obsolete or the old ways of solving new problems. Actually, the Artist does not see things as problems, rather he sees them as ART which becomes Accessible - Responsible - Tangible. A student needs to know that the teacher belongs to him. There has to be a bond, an affinity, a trust and a reciprocal sense of appreciation- irrespective of which stupid century of the orthodox-primitive-narrow minded world you are in.
To the Teachers, the Educators, Mentors - and the ones who have this unprovoked, uncompromised and unconditional urge to 'make an intervention' - DO NOT STOP! Be what you have been, the troublemakers - because if you allow the status quo to go on, things will remain the same and Change will not happen. Make the kids sing along - be it the subjects of Maths or Sciences or it is Languages. Make them fall in love with what they do. Remove the false temptations of marks and rankings. Show them that what is in them - is far more important than what the world wants them to run after.
Make them dreamers and painters who do not bother what the world says about their choices. BUT - Keep them on your canvas only. They need to be disciplined and must learn to mingle with all colours to make this exceptional amalgamation, free from the vices of the dead world.
Establish the connection of dialogue and ensure that you are dedicated to the ones who are there to learn. We shall remain TEACHERS to the ones who LEARN.
Unleash your own creativity in the form of your own expansion in Learning first. Go for a vacation and travel to a place never visited before. Prepare well and teach, as if, you are Teaching your own self, to make it the best version of itself.
There is no magic wand to turn things around, and we do not need one at all. You are the magician - see, the canvas awaits you.
Wake Up - Go!!!
(I shall invoke the Muse that I see in John Keating - in the Dead Poets Society. Watch that movie to see what a Teacher can do!)
