Points to Ponder

Originally posted 8-6-11

I'm taking a moment to write this entry because something kind of rocked my world just now.  I was checking my email, and received a letter to my vanilla email from an old high school teacher of mine.  He saw me on facebook, and got my email address from there.  He was one of my favorite teachers of all time.  He was cool.  He "got" me, for lack of a better word.  My class with him was during the final period of school at the end of the day, and we used to hang out afterwards and bullshit back and forth, about everything and anything.  School, my life, his life, his kids, his separation and possible divorce, music, movies, philosophy, religion, politics, etc.  I was....18 or 19 (it was my senior year), so once the bell rang, he dropped the pretenses of teacher/student and treated me like a friend, and I him.  It was never inappropriate, nor did anything happen that crossed any sort of legal boundaries.  It was just two people who became close friends in a weird circumstance.  We lost touch after graduation, but whenever I thought about my high school years, I would remember him fondly.  I really think that if all students could be friends with their teachers like I was with him, it would make a hugely positive difference in grades, and retention of knowledge after school is over.  Anyway, after almost 20 years of being out of high school, I got an email from him today.  He asked how I was doing, if I had continued my education, what I was doing with my life (yeah, I'll probably tell him-if he's like he used to be, he'll get a kick out of it), and I'd like to share a couple excerpts here now because it really knocked me on my butt that he remembered me, and that I seem to have made an impact on his life as well...

"I never forgot about you, or the talks we used to have after school.  It always amazed me how self-possessed you were, much more so than most other teenagers.  You had an insight to the important things in life and a simple way of looking at things that made so much more sense than the overly-analytical norms  our society would deem necessary.  The simplicity of your logic could cut through the greatest quandaries with ease, and reduce them to problems easily solved.  In short, you had a wise, old soul that I learned much from.  More so, I'm afraid than you could have possibly learned from me.  From you I learned that happiness could be found anywhere, if only I would open my eyes to see it.  I learned that life has it's own soundtrack, and if I only open my ears, I'll hear it's music.  I learned that in some situations, feeling is more important than touching, and in others, touching is more important than feeling.  It all depends on how the powers that be feel like putting us to use at that moment.  Did I ever tell you about the time I saw you walking somewhere after school?  I was driving down _____th Street, and I saw you up ahead.  You were walking past a house that had rose bushes along their fence.  You stopped for a few moments, looked at them. Then you leaned over and smelled one of every color.  After that,  you put your headphones back on and continued walking.   This image of you is the one strongest in my memory.  To stop and smell the roses is an old cliche, but it's a true one.  When I drove past, you smiled big and waved at me, and just looked...happy.  Like all was right with your world. 
To this day, I still think back on you and smile, and shake my head, wondering how I got so fortunate to have someone like you cross my path, when I was blind to any other form of guidance God might have sent my way.  Maybe, when it came to me in the form of a student, I wouldn't resist so much. After all, what could I, a teacher, ever possibly learn from a student?  (Yes, that is sarcasm you're reading)

I was reading a book earlier, and I read this quote from the Dalai Lama, and it made me think of you.  So much so that I felt compelled to try to contact you.  I think this made me think of you because it sounds exactly like something similar you once told me, and once again, I was reminded how wise you were at such a tender age. I would wonder even back then how you came to be that way. Wisdom like that doesn't come without struggle and hardship, and I can only hope that this inherent knowledge was born with you, and not learned out of fear, or abuse, or  being left with no choice but to hope for the best when things are always at their worst.

When the Dalai Lama was asked what in this life surprises him the most, this is what he said:
"Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about his future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived."

Uhmm..."wow" doesn't begin to cover what I'm feeling now.  Amazement. Gratitude. Humility.  

Think I'll go be by myself now.