Saint Paul, Minnesota
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This iReport is part of an assignment:
Your most inspirational teacher |
Dedicated Teacher
My favorite Teacher is an Author by many names known throughout the world. One of the first things He taught me is that you cannot always control the reactions of the people around you, but you can control your reactions to them. This was a very good lesson for me because by that time I had spent 10 years in the special education system, having been diagnosed with ADHD and Asperger’s. I was very different from my peers, and that always bothered me. My Teacher taught me that being different from others is perfectly okay, because He Himself is different from other Teachers. He also taught me about humility and that true humility is not depreciating yourself, but viewing yourself in the way that your closest Mentor or Teacher sees you.
He also taught me that if I want to be treated with respect, I must treat others with the same level of respect. I should also expect the same out of others that I do of myself: I must allow them the same mistakes I make myself. He also taught me about attitude and perception. I learned that not everything is as it seems, and like the elves in the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini), people- including my Teacher- can say one thing and mean something different than how you take it. I also learned that having a negative attitude about something makes it far more likely for bad things to happen because you expect them to happen, and that keeping things in perspective- particularly the minor frustrations in daily life- is essential to maintaining a healthy outlook on life.
The Teacher I met when I was 15 has been with me for almost a decade, and He has stuck by me even when I did not want to listen to Him. By now, you have noticed that I capitalize every reference to my Teacher. That is because my teacher is very, very special to me. He has been with me through some of the hardest times in my life, and He shows no signs of quitting. He has taught me many things about life that have helped me be a better human being, and He has led me through things I could never do on my own. He led me to adapt to my mental illnesses to the point where I do not need medicine to manage them, and He led me to make great friends and introduced me to a lot of amazing people.
I realize I have not properly introduced you to my teacher yet. That is because I am not done talking about Him. My Teacher has given me things I could never get on my own: The self-confidence I need to go through difficult therapies, the ability to overcome a very devastating physical ailment, and the courage to keep facing life’s challenges even when things look hopeless. My Teacher has taught me that the book He inspired has two meanings: One static meaning that can be determined through context, culture, language, and proper exegesis, and an individual meaning that He helps people notice through varying circumstances.
Even better, my Teacher laid down His life to save mine. My Teacher’s name, among many others, is called Wonderful Counselor, Morning Star, and Prince of Peace. Better known as Jesus, the Messiah.
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