Afternoon In Moms' Class

Today afternoon I happened to go to my mothers school for some official work. Although been to her school many times before, Ive never stepped in her class. But today, since it was an open house and there were no student in her class, I decided to hang out with her for a while. She teaches the 1st standard so I had trouble sitting on the kiddy-chair. I looked around and saw the pictures around the class, some of which i helped her create. There were cards with multiplication tables on them, pictures of human expressions, Santa and the reindeer's, elves, fishes hung loosely on a net, a drawing of a peacock which had feathers that were actually the palm prints of every kid in her class. I realised I was at my moms workplace, in her office.

I observed her talk to her colleges. Like any school, there is always a lot of politics and therefore gossip that goes on but she just listens and speaks diplomatically. Her colleagues find it hard to accept that I'm her son. She looks too young to have a son as big as me. But I'm used to such embarrassment and humiliation.

She loves kids. I believe shes gifted with the talent of understanding kids just that I am with the art of sarcasm.But the problem is that parents what their kids to be in her class when they are promoted. Very little distinguishes them from a pack of hyenas fighting for the last piece of meat for their young. I apologise if the association sound rude but at 2 o'clock at night sitting at my workplace sitting side of my friend editing a wedding we covered last week and at the same time chatting with my old girlfriend recently posted to the US, i was running out of ideas. Anyways, parents fight over winning a seat in moms class for their kids. Caught in the crossfire are other teacher who feel left out but that's life.

I walked around her class thinking and trying to imagine how it would be like doing this everyday. To be honest, although it didn't feel challenging to my chaotic and restless intellect, I did feel it to be soothing and satisfying, to realise that you have made a huge positive impact in the lifes of a bunch of kids at the time they need it the most and to help and see them shape into good people. As one parent put it, during the gossip "Our kids don't listen to what we say but what the teacher says is the word of god".

My personal mission in life it to make a  lasting, inspiring and memorable contribution to the world. But in my quest to fulfill this mission,  I realised that there was a whole part of my mothers(and fathers) life I overlooked. But thankfully it took me just an hour in her class to realise that in her small way she, in fact, already is fulfilling that very same mission whereas I haven't even started.

So who was the teacher that made the biggest impact in your life?