A Teacher: A Gift Giver and A Game Changer

Of all the people who have shaped my life, the ones I owe some of the biggest glasses of gratitude to are my teachers. Education is one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone and the people who give this deserve a huge thank you. From the alphabet to algebra, educators devote their lives to teaching us knowledge that will hopefully serve us well in the future. But my teachers, like many others, didn't only teach me things from the world of academia, they taught me things from the book of life as well. I live in a small city that is pretty closed off from the outside world, but I had teachers that taught me about that world beyond my city limits and changed my view of it and the people that inhabit it. For me, this was an important lesson to learn and could always be put to good use. When I had a bad day and thought my life was bad, I remember what my teachers said about people around the world who faced problems greater than I could ever imagine. To say the least, teachers gave me the gift of perspective.

While its important to teach children to have perspective, it is as equally, if not so more important, to teach children to dream. This is something that educators from my small city to Harlem to the idyllic suburbs all around America all try to leave with their students. Teachers want to change lives and want to see their students succeed and what a better way to do that than by encouraging them to imagine greater. Dreaming makes us set goals and strive to achieve them. If we were never taught how to dream, how far could we possibly get in life? Not very, because without a dream, how could we ever want to be better than we are?

Although we may not have the highest test scores in the world, I do believe that we have a great education system. In this country, we are lucky to have a free public education so that everyone has the opportunity to learn. Many citizens of other countries are not lucky enough to have this gift that so many take for granted. Education leaves a huge impact on our lives, and much of this comes down to the teachers who are there to help us. Teachers do not get into this line of work for the money or the days off. They become educators because they want to not only better their lives, but those around them. They are passionate about making a positive difference in people's lives through education. In my experience, one of the biggest reasons that teachers become who they are is because they have learned something in their life and want to teach it to others to make their lives a little easier.

So here is to the teachers who transform lives with their gifts, passion, and wisdom. You inspire us and prove the saying true that it only takes one person to alter the course of a life. With you, we learn and go on to change the world. Without you, nothing we do would be possible.