Visit to RM School

We went to visit your school. This was a very symbolic visit for you. It touched deeply the very core of your identity. At the core you are a teacher. You were designed to take complex things and make them easy to understand, and have fun while doing it; to take the minds of children like a garden plot and plant the seeds of future beautiful flowers and wonderful tools they will need in life; to see promise where everyone else sees only trouble. You are a teacher because your heart knows well about giving the precious gift of learning. Going to the school was a reminder of who you are. And this was more poignant when I consider that it is possible that you may never teach again in a school.

The symbolic value of the occasion, however, was more in our minds. What I saw at the school when we arrived was a heartwarming expression of love and care for you. Schools are very stressful workplaces. Stressful places create frustration and shorten tempers. Stressful feelings push people apart. Caring is often the first casualty of the rush of everyday life. Nevertheless, I saw a Principal and Vice-principal setting precious time aside to visit with you. I saw teachers genuinely moved by your visit. What a wonderful parade of the most beautiful emotions that make us really human. I was a privileged witness of the bonds you had with these colleagues. Jan, you made a mark on them. They also made a mark on me with their generous hearts.

You were so happy. No amount of money could buy this happiness for you. You were basking in the warmth of these lovely expressions of friendship. God bless them all for filling your cup with so much joy in just 50 minutes.

I will always remember the radiant faces of the students who came to see you. Their candid questions: “When are going to be back, Miss Walton? Will you be our teacher in September? The best reward for a teacher may be to see the thirst for more of whatever quests and dreams you planted in their minds.

When we left you were radiant. I don’t now how many synaptic links were re-built during the visit, maybe in the thousands. The visit refreshed your memory of events not too distant. I felt glad to see you rejuvenated.

They said that you are a walking miracle. I say, that they need to have a closer look of the many miracles they may be taking for granted in their lives, such as language. They said our love is rare. I say that they all have exactly the same capability to love the same and more, if they only took the time to find it. After all, it took an aneurysm to test how much we meant what we said we feel for each other just a few months ago. But love needs not this type of tests to shine in our lives. It just blooms if we let it breath.

My wish for your colleagues is that they may experience the same warm embrace in their lives like the one they extended to you during this visit.

Fede