Impact

Impact.  People create it and people feel it.  What matters is which has the greatest effect on yourself.  Do you leave a mark or are you impacted by others?  It has been my finding that there is an equal push by both sides, as I would learn on this past Friday.

It was my last day at Magnolia Junior High and it was sure to be an emotional one.  Kids telling you that they don't want you to go really leaves an impression on the soul that is hard to forget about.  The students left a box full of notes for me to keep as I would be leaving them later on that day.  This really impressed me, as most people outside of Moss Point consider the students to be vapid with nothing to offer.  Let me be the first to tell you that their encouraging words are what dignifies my decision to teach.

Sure, you had your everyday words of encouragement, but there was one letter that stuck out to me.  One letter that made me say, "Wow."  One letter that made me feel like I had finally made an impact.  It was a boy from my 5th period class.  He personally handed the letter to me in a secretive way, almost as if he was scared for me to read it.  He exited the classroom right after giving it to me.  As I opened the letter, I noticed the neatness, the organization, and the thought put into making this letter look good.  As I began to read, I would have to step back and read again.  "IDK... but you were like a real dad to me, and I have never had anything close to a real dad."

I almost lost it.  When I had first come, the child had a 20 something average and had little hope of passing the quarter.  I then traced his steps in the week I was there, and he was making huge leaps and bounds.  I was a father figure for this child and leading him in the right directions and had no idea that he was taking notice of that.  I had absolutely zero idea that he thought of me in this way.  To put it simply, I never knew such powerful words could come from a 13 year old boy.

Later on during bus duty I called the boy over and told him something.  I told him that it took a real man to say something like that and that if he ever needed anything that I would be there.  What does all of this mean? And what does it have to do with impact?  After reading the boy's letter, I knew what kind of impact I had made on him.  It was in that moment all of the lesson planning, grading, teaching, explaining, and everything else had all paid off. But what he did not realize was at that moment he left an impact on me.  He justified and dignified my decision to become an educator.  He made my life's dream have a purpose.  Not to receive letters telling me how much of a difference I made, but to know that the students are absorbing what I put out there for them to grab and make a better future for themselves.

What it boils down to is that his impact on me would be far greater than anything I could ever dream to accomplish.