THE CREATION OF A TEACHER

While God was creating teachers, He was into His sixth day of 'overtime' when the angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around with this one."
And God said, "Have you read the specifics of this order? "

She has to: stand above all her students, yet be on their level, be able to do 180 other things not connected with the subject she teaches, have 6 pairs of hands to run events, mark essays, set exam papers, purchase tees, run on coffee, mars bars and late lunches, communicate vital knowledge to hundreds of students daily, and be right and fair, have as much, and sometimes more time for his job as he does for himself, have a smile that can endure everything from practical jokes to detached faces, go on teaching when parents question her every move , when students do not cooperate and the endless administration requests for deadlines.

The angel shook his head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands! Not possible.""It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said God. "It's the three pairs of eyes that teachers have to have.""Is that on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded.

"One pair that can see a student for what he is and not what society has labelled him. Another pair must be in the back of his head, to see what he shouldn't, but what he has to know. Of course, the ones here in front can look at a student when he goofs up and reflect, 'I understand and I still believe in you," without so much as uttering a word."

"Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, "Go to bed. Please. Why not continue tomorrow?"
"I can't," said God. "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself.
Already I have one who comes to work when he is too sick ...can still teach a class when they don't want to learn...loves hundreds of children and teenagers that are not her own through the years...and all of this in both sexes. And wait until you see my Special Education teacher! He is truly special; he will never take anything his students do for granted."

The angel circled the model of the teacher very slowly. "It's too soft," he sighed."But tough," said God excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this teacher can do or endure.""Can she think?""Not only can she think, but she can reason and compromise too."

Finally the angel bent over and ran his fingers across the cheek of the teacher."There's a leak," he pronounced. "I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You can't imagine the stress factor."


God moved in for a closer look and gently lifted the drop of moisture to His finger where it glistened and sparkled in the light.
"It's not a leak," He said. "It's a tear."
"A tear?" asked the angel. "What's it for?"

"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, compassion, pain, loneliness.
And pride."

"You are a genius," said the angel.


The Lord looked somber,

"I didn't put it there."

author unknown
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happy teachers' day to fellow teachers who have come and gone, moved and passed along the corridors of my life and whose values continue to influence mine today. To all former students who may enter the vocation one day, may this passage bear good fruits in your heart, long after the years are over, just as it did for me...