The Kindest Souls

I value kindness a lot. Random, intentional, deliberate - let's just all be nice to one another. Let's treat others the way that we would like to be treated. You know, "The Golden Rule" and all that.

It surprised me that I had so much trouble answering today's VEDA Question: 

Has someone ever been extra kind to you? What did they do and how did it help you? Have you ever been driven to do something extra kind for someone else? What motivated you to do that? What did you do?

I am a very fortunate girl. I have a dearth of incredibly kind, compassionate, generous, caring, and utterly beautiful people in my life. It was really hard to pinpoint one really, really extra kind person or act. 

Then I began thinking about some of the teachers that I have had over the years. I must lead a charmed life because for every lousy teacher I had, I had a dozen stellar ones. I am so proud of the education I received from the Putnam County School District. Say what you want about the state of education in this country, but I know that I was given a well-rounded and complete education in public school. Maybe despite their status as "the poorest county in Florida", Putnam County is near the top in terms of education? 

My first teacher.

 I am often baffled by the things that people my age or older simply don't know. Here's an example:

I was in a critique group a little less than a year ago and one of the people being critiqued was writing a novel involving a con man posing as George Washington Carver's great grandson. In his opening, he mentioned that George Washington Carver invented over 100 different uses for the peanut. 

The critique group got really hung up on this. They asked "Why would you say that?" I looked up and replied, "Because he did."

My Pre-K teacher was pretty awesome.

They had never heard of George Washington Carver and had no clue about his work with the peanut (or presumably the soybean for that matter). 

They asked me: "How did you know that?" and all I could think was, How could you not? but maybe George Washington Carver is only taught in the South. I simply replied "I learned it in school."

Their eyes grew wide. "And you remember that?"

Well, yeah. You tend to remember things you learn.I would think that this incident were a one off were it not for the fact that this sort of scenario plays out in my life over and over. Seriously. All. The. Time. 

At this point, I cannot help but think that I must have received an unparalleled education. This could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of the incredible teachers I had the privilege to learn from. Some of those teachers went above and beyond the call of duty. 

Mrs. Stoneman put up with a lot from me.

In my video, I talked about Mr. Davis, my Humanities teacher, who unbeknownst to me submitted a scholarship application to a college for me as well as a preliminary enrollment application. I forgot to mention that he also submitted my name to the Congressional Young Leaders Conference for their National Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. 

Because of Mr. Davis, I got to spend to weeks in D.C, meeting some of the best and brightest of my peerage from all over the country. I am still in contact with at least one person from that summer, and although I didn't end up pursuing Political Science in college, the experience was indispensable to who I have become. I am still very informed about politics process - so much so that I spent the month of March editing an Undergraduate Thesis on The Holy See, Sovereignty, Cardinals, and Dual Allegiance. I also contributed to the research of said paper, in a small way. This paper, written by my illustrious best friend, Mojo Jojo is, to my knowledge, in the process of finding a publisher. 

A teacher advocated for me to be a safety patrol.
(I forgot my belt on picture day!)

I don't know if I ever thanked Mr. Davis for all he did for me, but I hope he knows how truly grateful I am for him believing in me. Especially since I feel I was rather hard on him. I was going through a lot at the time, and I can only assume that he could see that and he forgave me my transgressions because he could also see that I was worthy of the opportunities he so generously offered me.

Mr. Davis was not the only teacher to have gone above and beyond the call of duty for me. Not by a long shot. There were a handful of teachers in my life who could see that there was to me than a hungry mind and an enthusiastic nature. These were the teachers I formed a relationship with. The ones who knew things about me that my friends probably didn't even know. The ones who let me hang out in their classrooms after school and just vent. 

Mr. McDaniels believed in me enough to nominate me for an award.

I'm sure there were afternoons when they just wanted to go home. Most of them lived in a different city, or even a different county. But instead, they let kvetch about my boyfriend. They listened to me go on about my petty (and sometimes, not so petty) teenage problems. They understood probably better than I did at the time that maybe I wasn't over my dad dying. That maybe I needed a positive male figure in my life. They didn't judge. They didn't offer advice. They just listened. They let me be. 

Their time and attention was a gift that they were in no way obligated to give and I owe them all a debt of gratitude. Every one of my teachers were incredible, but to the handful that went above and beyond - thank you. You'll never know just how much it meant to me or how much it still means. 

Thank you.