The Teacher that Changed My Life

I never realized how much of an impact one person could have in someone else's life until I hit 7th grade.  

Before then, teachers were machines that rattled off math equations and produced illogical amounts of homework.  They weren't people.  In fact, if I saw them outside of school I wondered who'd let them escape into the real world.  Teachers didn't teach anything but math, English, history, and science, and all they cared about was grades and deadlines.

Then I met Mrs. E. 

Even in 7th grade, I was probably six or seven inches taller than her, but her energy and spunk filled the room.  Her inner strength made us all feel small, and her love for each of us made the room a refuge.  At first I didn't know what to think.  It was so foreign--it fought against everything I associated with the word "school."

And the weirdest part?  Mrs. E cared more about who we were as people than she did about what was on our report card.  She saw greatness in us, no matter how we compared to the standards the world decided to set . . . and she immediately started to nurture that greatness.

She told us stories about her life--sometimes they were about real life haunted houses that sent us home with nightmares, and sometimes they were about how to enjoy life and become the best person possible.  Twice a week, we memorized inspirational quotes and poems by the great thinkers of the world just for fun.  We wrote letters to our future selves, put on full-length Shakespeare plays, and built castles.  We didn't neglect our schooling, she just showed us why it mattered.  I swear I would've done anything for her.

I learned and accomplished so much that year, and it seemed almost effortless.  I still remember the quotes.  I'm still laughing at the letter from myself that I got at high school graduation.  I can still recite snippets from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  But the biggest thing I learned that year was that I am invincible: I can do incredible, impossible things if I want to.

That's what having a little faith in someone does.  

She didn't run around telling me that I was going to be great all the time.  She just trained me like I was going to do amazing things someday.  

Ever since then, I've wanted to do amazing things.  And I believe I will.  

When it comes down to it, the most important thing I've learned in all my years of school was this question:

Thank you, Mrs. E, for asking me that question and giving me the courage to chase what I really wanted.  Thanks for believing that I would be a great person someday.  I'll prove you right.

And, to the world: Have a little faith in somebody.  It makes a big difference.