Oct 10
5
A Profession worth living
At a very young age of about 15 years or so we had to write an essay about the best of all professions and which we in ourselves thought was an ideal one which made a real difference. I chose the teacher as the person who made the biggest difference in our lives, in shaping the individual, the society, culture and many other aspects of human life. The argument presented by a teenager was that if it were not for the teachers we would not have any doctors to save lives or engineers to shape our way of living. Everything depended on the teacher. There was also a quotation in the essay that “If you want to plan for 10 years plan trees but if you want to plan for a century educate women….or maybe it was children”. It does not matter as long as it was knowldge that was imparted.
It has been many years since then and recently I had to visit one of the very nice Schools in Sharjah where getting an admission is as difficult as a dream and reality. However, the principal of the School who is the owner himself and admired by many people for his devotion towards education, happened to be in touch with me for some reason. A School teacher asked me to accompany him to visit the Principal for the admission of his daughter. I willingly agreed and introduced him to the principal as a teacher. The principal exclaimed I have seen the papers written by your child. When asked what she would do with a million Dirhams, she has written that she would help her parents first and then others who are under privileged. The principal then exclaimed that “the children on teachers are the children of God”.
The school admitted the girl with priority and she was in one of the best schools with a low fee that the teacher could afford.
Teachers are not looser, they beget winners and champions. They are roots of our society. Yet in every part of the world they are the most under paid work force looking at the scope and importance of work. A few years back someone told me about a few teachers that they were a bunch of losers. I kept thinking why was that so. The reason was the person like him. He did not care for the person who cared for his child and nurtured him with knowledge. The teacher was not a loser rather the parent was.
Just because the teacher was under paid and sought other means to meets his ends does not make him so. Rather the parent was a loser who did not teach his child to respect his second parent just for a petty reason of not making enough money.
We are the losers when we pay low wages to teachers. The reason of the underpay is us, not being able to afford the high standard of the person who shapes are society and dump them into low grade work force category. It is we who are bent down by the weight of their generosity.
I have read in history several times that our culture has the highest stature for Gurus and the Kings and Emperors would bow to them in respect. Have we forgotten our culture and heritage.
A teacher is not a teacher, he is an actor who entertains, a farmer who sows and reaps, an engineer who builds character, a doctor who cures doubts and questions, a consultant who shows profitable ways of living and growing, an artist who draws and shapes the mind and thought, a couch and guide.
As I write this article I applaud all the teachers today on the 5th of October, being ‘The World Teachers Day“. A profession which is worth living, even for a day. My stand as a teenager seems fair enough even today. For the love and respect to all teachers in the world a single sentence would suffice, “You are not in the wrong profession, never were and never will be and the perspective of other people does not matter”.
Teachers Appreciation week is from May 2nd – May 6th, with teacher’s appreciation day being on Tuesday May 3rd, show your affection to your teachers and teach your children to do the same.
