I am a retired English teacher and I loved my teaching career.
A while back I was pursuing my daily, fast walk with a friend. We had a certain circuit through our suburb and one cool summer evening we were approaching a long slow hill. We continued our conversation as we both sub consciously 'changed gear' to tackle the incline.
Strangely enough I even remember what we were talking about. There was a symphony concert coming and we were discussing the booking and buying of tickets.
As usual I scanned the area still talking easily. There were few people about. A mom in a nearby garden called "Andy, Murray, time for your bath...........come NOW," she tapped her watch impatiently. A dog barked.
In the distance at the top of the hill, about 100 metres away I noticed a man walking down the hill on the opposite side of the road. As we got to the part of the conversation deciding whether or not to invite another couple of friends to go with us to the concert, I registered something that put me on my guard.
The man, who was tall and well built, I could see now he was closer, had stepped from the pavement on his side of the road. I thought I was being silly as my senses went on to FULL ALERT.
I kept chatting to Janet, looking at her from time to time but I kept the man in my peripheral vision like a radar.
There it was! My cause for concern! He was angling across the road seeming to come directly towards us.
Without saying a word to Jean I picked up the pace a bit and immediately the man altered the trajectory of his path. Once again he looked set to meet up with us as he crossed the road.
"Janet," I said quietly, " it looks as though we might have a problem." Before she could gather her wits the man had walked deliberately up to us. He stopped suddenly a few paces ahead, sensing that we might be concerned. He put his hands on his hips and looking directly at me, he said clearly, "THANK YOU."
The broad smile on his friendly face allayed all my fears as he repeated the word, "THANK YOU!" His brown eyes were searching mine and dimly on his third assertive "THANK YOU" a faint bell began to ring! By this time he was chuckling softly. Janet was looking at us both in amazement but sensing that something rather nice was going on, she was smiling broadly too.
I interrupted his final "THANK YOU" with a flash of memory and I pointed my finger at him and said loudly like a proper 'school marm'........ "You sat at the back of the classroom third from the window and you seldom did your homework!" With that we all three burst out laughing and he stepped forward and enfolded me in a sweet bear hug. "You were my best teacher ever," he said and it was pure music in my ears. A crescendo of a symphony played as he added "I hated English until I was in your class. Oh what fun we had. THANK YOU!"
He told me that I had inspired him to take part in the Public Speaking team . "It led me to my present career in which I am a Motivational speaker. In fact I'm booked next week at the local high school where you taught me and I would be honoured if you would be my guest." I agreed and after an emotional few more minutes, remembering past class mates and a particularly funny incident in the classroom, we parted company.
That encounter changed me that day.
It occurred to me how vital it is that we thank people. We should search them out and thank them even years down the line. Tell them by letter but best of all in person how they made a difference in our lives
His words were priceless and pure gold in my ears that day and I will treasure them for the rest of my life.
