How do you thank a dead teacher?

How do you thank a dead teacher? by debgrant

To save you scrolling time, the answer is: thank a live one.

For those who are curious enough to read more, you are one of three kinds of people in the world:

1. Born curious. I know at least one. There are probably more. I am not one of them.

2. Rarely or never curious. Not the kind of people I enjoy spending a lot of time around.

3. Taught curiosity. I am definitely one of them. I have teachers to thank.

Just off the top of my head, there are two dead teachers I wish I could thank.

Christa McAuliffe: she wasn’t my teacher, but she was about to become a teacher for the world as she sat inside the shuttle Challenger waiting for launch. I was standing on the beach near the launch site that morning. I was excited for her and for all of us who wanted to learn more with her from space. I felt the rumble of the launch beneath my feet and the moment of her death.

Miss Bliss: My high school English teacher. One morning she was having trouble containing her composure in class. Her tears were mixed with anger. She remained silent. We were curious and we cared about her. She taught us curiosity and compassion…so we asked. She told us. It was the day after the shooting by National Guard troops of student protesters at Kent State. That happened in Ohio, we lived in Massachusetts. She didn’t know any of the dead personally, but she felt their deaths. For some of us, it was the moment we became a little less curious about who was wearing what at the next dance and more curious about what the hell was going on in the world. By the time, I grew out of being a self-absorbed teen to thank Miss Bliss for changing the trajectory of my life, she was dead of cancer, still relatively young.

So in this season of gratitude, when I hope you all have a bazillion things and folks to be grateful for…because you do, unless you are the dreaded “Rarely or Never Curious”…and if you ARE one of the Rare or Never Curious, I would like to point out to you that NO HUMAN can teach themselves how to read! It may have been a teacher or a parent. Parents are teachers. Some of them, not all, take that role seriously.

But as I was saying, how do you thank a dead teacher?

Thank a live one.

Blessed Thanksgiving to you all, especially my friends who are teachers,

Deb