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| Image Credit: Unsplash via Pixabay |
Hi there! First off, to all you Canadians out there, a huge
happy Thanksgiving to you! It’s a bit odd that our Thanksgiving is so early in
the fall months, but I guess it’s never too early to be grateful. I also just wanted
to say a huge thank you to all of you who have been reading and following this
blog through all of my craziness and through my erratic posting schedule. It
means a lot to me that you’re all a part of my life and I hope that reading my
blog everyday (or however often you read it) brings you as much joy as it does
to me when I write it.
Speaking of thanks, today, I wanted to talk to you about
this one teacher I have. He’s new at my
school this year and I’d say that he’s about 50 years old. I have him as both a
French and a history teacher and overall, he’s a really nice guy. But the
thing, is with teenagers, we can’t seem to accept extremes and whenever someone
is a bit too something, we call them
out on it and spin that certain character trait in the complete opposite
direction.
Oh, is she too
peppy and cheerful? She must be doing for reasons x and y. Is he is really
mean and cold (but just so happens to be good-looking)? He is so cool. You get the gist.
A few weeks ago, I was wearing these cool leather perforated
shorts and he was like, “Juliana, where’d you get your shorts?” in this voice
that was slightly in awe. Clearly, he wasn’t intending to get himself a pair,
but was simply making conversation and compliments are a great way to start. If
you read my Imposter Syndrome post, you’ll know that accepting compliments was
and sometimes is a bit… weird for me, so as usual, I was a bit taken aback, but
answered with a smile and told him that I got them from Urban Outfitters.
I think at that point, the class was pretty quiet and that
most of the people around me heard what he’d said. When I went to sit back down
at my desk, I was met with some looks of sympathy, saying what words wouldn’t
have been able to since he was sitting literally five feet away. They wore
looks that said, “Oh my God, I feel for you. It was so weird how he said that.”
And at the time, I’m ashamed to say that by not saying anything along the lines
of “it wasn’t that weird” or “he was just trying to be nice” and only returning
their gazes with an awkward smile, I added to the notion that he shouldn’t have
done that and that he shouldn’t have complimented me or any of those other
people. In reality, that’s not the case at all.
We’re all thrown together for six hours a day, teachers and
students, without any say in it at all and we’re expected to deal with each
other and do our jobs accordingly. I know that I hate it when a teacher is just
a cold-cut teacher who doesn’t try to interact with us and doesn’t try to show
any kind of enthusiasm for whatever they’re teaching. I also know that pretty
much everyone else I know will agree with me. So when a teacher who just so
happens to be a bit older attempts to do the very thing that we all like, we’re
suddenly giving each other knowing looks as if we didn’t want such a thing to happen?
Before you think that I’m not seeing it in that way, let me assure you that I have.
I’m sure the question of whether or not his actions bear the hint of pedophilia
has probably crossed your mind once while reading this and has crossed the
judgemental ones who interact with him as a student on a daily basis, but I can
also assure that you that he’s actually harmless. So why are we giving him a
hard time (behind his back, but a hard time nonetheless) for being nice?
I realise that any one person can’t possibly please everyone
– that’s just not possible. But what still boggles my mind is how we like it
when someone is nice to us. We like it when they show that they care about us
and that they acknowledge us as a fellow human being, a comrade. But when that
person doesn’t fit our criteria in his or her physical appearance and age, or
whatever it may be, we suddenly think it’s weird
that he or she is being nice to us, as if we’re uncomfortable. What the
hell is with that?
Kindness is rare to come by and if there’s anything you take
from this, just remember to cherish every bit of kindness you get. And gosh,
bless the souls of those who try to bring kindness to someone else’s life. I’m
100% positive that my teacher isn’t reading this right now, but I wanted to say
a big thank you for, well, just being nice. And for being really history to
make the class a bit less boring.
Have you ever had a teacher like that? Or maybe just met someone like that? You know what? Just tell me your thoughts on this whole thing, I'd love to read what you have to say.
- J
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