Other day I was attending a function organized by Ithihas foundation. An organization engaged in real time teaching to students since last many years. Smita madam, the founder,is a passionate lady, an encyclopedia of knowledge and a wonderful story teller. She takes the kids of various school around the historical monuments and share the story behind and around not only of structure but the human beings and the lives, who the structures were related to it.
ÂWhat a wonderful way to teach history, the past, our traditions, values, ethos and all logic and why’s and how’s related to that era – I believe that is the best way to help the kids register things and resonate with their present life to keep the future of country intact. And madam Smita is a perfect example, who is keeping the traditions of being a good teacher alive.
How good a student I am? Time for some Introspection.
ÂBut, my question here today is not about how good a teacher should be. Today I am asking to prod self, that how good a student am I? If Smita madam is able to create some difference, it is not just because she is a good teacher but that the students are ready to listen and imbibe the values shared by her without resistance.
ÂWe have many good teachers around us. Our parents, school teachers, friends etc as all of them guide, support, mentor and help us grow. But I still feel the best teacher is life itself. Reason is, rest all can be either biased or may try to put best foot forward to not to offend or displease you, or they may not walk the talk and thus overlook your mistakes for their own benefit to not to get ticked off in return. But life, life is a perfect teacher. The learning curve of life is always enriching, it is only the students who lose perspective and start looking for short-cuts fail. Otherwise life offers equal chance to each one of us to shine and stand out.
Our Learning Perception
ÂOften when we look back it is generally the strict teachers (may be parent), whom we use to hate while under them due to their hard way to handle, later comes out the real ones, because the habits we got imbibed due to their strict handling made us achieve things in life. The same way when we undergo hardships in life, a so called non-negotiable cruel teacher, we later realize that how actually it helped us to grow, to get to some place. But again, this is possible only for good students.
ÂWhile under strict teachers, some students use to adhere, adjust, adapt and learn the way they wished us to learn but others use to escape, evade, tell lies, bunk or totally avoid the teacher to not to face the reality. Same way in life too, those who adhere, adjust, adapt and learn, they grow, and others become negative. Sometime to the extent that they try adapting wrong methods to avoid or evade. But life is cruel, it will keep you in fix till you don’t learn out of it as evading leads to failure, which means repeat the class. And one can not get dropped out of school of life till one learns the lesson. More you delay more hard it becomes.
Like the schools if hardships given by life is too tough, it proves that the lessons you are about to learn are making you achieve bigger things. So, challenges or hardship is directly propionate to lessons learnt out of it.
ÂIf I give you my example. The most difficult or challenging lesson I had was my injuries, my amputation. It is just that I could adapt, adjust, learn and make best of whatever is left out with me helped me to reach wherever I am today. I feel lucky that life chose me for this tough lesson. And this way my injuries becomes the best thing ever happened to me. What nothing else could make me, my disability ensured I should become.
ÂIt all depends how good student you are. How you look at it. Your perception towards life and its challenges. People feel Disability is a curse, but I feel, what no one could teach me, my disability taught me.The life I am living post injury is far better than what I could have lived otherwise. So, my disability ensured my abilities.
It’s all the game of perception. And a good student understands it well. It is easy to imbibe these traits as youngster, but it is not at all difficult to change one’s perception at any time of age.
ÂI know you love yourself
On this teacher’s day, let’s start looking at things from a different perspective and become good students of life. Avoiding or crying over your fate won’t help but accepting the reality, adjusting, adapting and making best of whatever you have will lead you to new heights. Life’s lesson will always be tough but for sure only positive ones should achieve new heights. I know you love yourself and you would surely try to be a good student of life, the real teacher.
