My Thoughts and Reflections.

December 12, 2021

The Meaning of a Teacher

<p>This episode is also available as a blog post: https://baihao.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/the-meaning-of-a-teacher/</p> <p>The Meaning of a Teacher</p> <p>I’ve been practising a turning movement in ice-skating for months. I can turn pretty well in low speed, but seems I’ve reached a certain point that I cannot make progress anymore. If I increase the speed before turning, 8 out of 10 times I would fall.</p> <p>Yesterday I came to the ice ring again. Three staff guards were sliding on the ice, watching over a few other skaters playing around. I’ve seen two of them many times: one is a cutie, who doesn’t talk much, but when he talks, his tender yet firm voice could penetrate your mind and melt your heart; another one is a hottie, who flirts around with girls who cannot skate well and need help. The third one didn’t draw much of my attention. He is just…eh…normal (no label yet).</p> <p>The cutie saw me coming again, and greeted me: “ haven’t seen you for weeks, how’ve you been?”. &nbsp;Ah… the voice…</p> <p>The hottie saw me falling while turning, and came to see if I was hurt. I mocked myself: “I just can’t control my outside edge well.” He winked at me with his charming smile, and left two words – “more practice”.</p> <p>So I did. I kept on practicing, kept on falling, until the normal guard passing me by. He threw me one sentence: “For this turn, you should use your heels and put your weight on them, not the edges.”</p> <p>That was magic! As if I was searching for something anxiously for ages, and someone came to me suddenly and told me “Hey, here it is!”. I suddenly got the answer to a problem that I couldn’t figure out. I adjusted my movement, and miraculously the turning became so much smoother, more stable and more comfortable. It just felt, all of a sudden, so right!</p> <p>Later that night I thought about the role of a teacher. Teacher is not necessarily a job, but rather a role. It is to share what you know with others and make others better qualified. 2500 years ago Confucius pointed out that among any three people, at least one of them could be my teacher. 1200 years ago, Han Yu mentioned that anyone could be a teacher – the only difference among us is that we learn the knowledge in different stages, and are specialized in different fields.</p> <p>It’s true that anyone can be a teacher, and everyone has something that we can learn from. However, a critical point that was missing here is the willingness to share.&nbsp; This is not on the fact-based knowledge level anymore, but rather a touch of morality.</p> <p>Good things should be shared. Thus the positive energy of a society is passed on.&nbsp; Hence a better world will be created.</p> <p>Sharing, a little word, a BIG concept.</p> <p>I thought of the third guard on the ice ring again. A normal guy who wouldn’t stand out among others, but for a moment he was my teacher, and he changed my life in a certain way.</p> <p>I’ll label him – “goodie”.</p> <p>Good night, all the “goodies” in my life. I thank you sincerely.</p>