[2022-12-22] Influential people: a follow-up
Today, I received a very special Christmas card. It was from my grade 5 teacher.
You may recall my post on Influential people, in which I shared the positive impact this particular teacher had had on my life and career by instilling in me a love of grammar. Some months after writing that post, I finally made good on a commitment to write to my teacher to let her know the difference she had made in my life.
In my letter, I reminded her that she had given me grammar exercises to do to keep me busy after I had finished the curriculum in a given subject. "Thus was born my keen interest in grammar," I wrote to her. "It may well have set me on my path to studying journalism and incorporating writing into just about every job I held since then." I went on to describe my academic pursuits, career highlights and family, adding: "I thought you would enjoy knowing the impact you had had on me. You were undoubtedly my most influential teacher in elementary school."
I let her know that she was under no obligation to follow up with me, saying: "I simply wanted to send you a note to let you know how your work as a teacher benefited me."
To my great delight, my teacher responded. She described my letter as a gift, which she received the day before she turned 70. She wrote:
We retired teachers often wonder if we made a good or poor impact on our students, worrying that we could have done more for many.
My goal was to inspire students to want to learn to the best of their abilities. We don't always succeed.
In my case—and no doubt many other cases—she did succeed. Just as my teacher enjoyed hearing my story, I thought you would enjoy hearing her response to my letter. I hope it inspires you to reach out to people who have positively influenced you.
