I was sipping an iced tea at the coffee shop and researching online when she walked up. “Is your name Beard?” she asked. She looked familiar. After 37 years in the classroom, I’ve given up hope of remembering most names, but something in her eyes was familiar.
“Yes.”
She introduced herself, a former student who had graduated 20 years ago. We caught up briefly, and she said, “I wanted to tell you about something you said to me once.”
I tried not to tense visibly – this could be good or not. “I had turned in my homework,” she said, “and you gave it back and said it wasn’t good enough. I was thinking, ‘I did my homework, what do you want?’ But you went on and said, ‘You can do better than this. You have a lot of potential.’ I’ve never forgotten that.”
She smiled and repeated it. “You said I had a lot of potential. I’ve never forgotten that.”
I said, “Thank you” and added a few words that I hoped were appropriate.
She smiled again and left, and I sat for a few moments in awe of that moment of kindness.
This is what we’re meant to do, isn’t it? To remind each other that through all the imperfections, every now and then a moment shines through. Hold on them. Tell the happy story. Remind each other of the good things we do. (We don’t need reminders of the others. We do that on our own.)
I’m smiling now, just remembering. Wherever you are today, Heather, thank you.
This is wonderful. Sometimes it felt as if it was a losing battle to get their best out of them. And really, sometimes it WAS hopeless. But when one comes back and says something of this nature, it is all worth the effort!