A High Calling: The Call to Teach

We live in an age today of uncertainty, of danger, and of potential. The past generations have made mistakes almost beyond correction, errors of politics and social habit and environmental abuse. It is up to the youth, the children, the next generation, to redeem humanities blunders and envision for themselves and their children a new and brighter future.

And this is the call of a teacher; to educate the children of today to become adults for a better tomorrow. My desire in teaching is to carefully train and prepare children for the world that they will inherit, building in them better lives for themselves, better treatment of others, and better living on this planet that is our home.

The first, and most integral part of enabling children is to instill them with a deep and healthy understanding of their own worth; to help each one see his or her own unique gifts, the talents within them to benefit themselves and the world they touch. When this child has the voice of a songbird and this other can compute perfect figures in his head, it is the teacher's job to nurture and expound each talent and dream, while giving the child also the foundation of knowledge and skills that will guide and support them in today's society.

So many children, so many cultures, are bound by the belief that they are born in their place, that they cannot further or change or grow but just accept where they have been put. We are not a nation of such resigning. The sons and daughters of this nation, if they are to better the nation, must first be able to better themselves - to advance and change and grow and become more every day the young men and women that they were created to be. They need support and encouragement, to be enabled in their gifts and challenged to overcome their weaknesses, to be given boundaries in some areas and opportunities in others. With this self-worth, with this understanding of who they are, the children can rise to their full potential, surpassing expectations and fulfilling dreams of a full and good and worthwhile life in today's ever-changing world.