Life: The Best Teacher

Life’s lessons are invaluable all we have to do is listen.

I think in every lesson there’s a blessing, and there’s so many blessings from all the lessons I’ve had to go through in life. Alonzo Mourning

I’ve lived for 48 years and learned many life lessons. These lessons didn’t come easy. I made mistakes I hope never to repeat. However, it was necessary. We cannot learn and create changes if we don’t live life. There are so many things to experience as we go about our daily lives. When our eyes open in the morning, we don’t know what the day might bring. It this uncertainty which makes life interesting. Life would be boring and uneventful if we know what lied around the corner. It’s a book with many chapters only you can write. We must look for opportunities to learn and embrace the ride. Furthermore, we may be surprised where we find a life lesson.

The life lessons I learned from teaching children.

I have learned that, although I am a good teacher, I am a much better student, and I was blessed to learn valuable lessons from my students on a daily basis. They taught me the importance of teaching to a student — and not to a test. Erin Gruwell

I’ve worked in various capacities throughout my educational career. Each position created its own lessons but the most fulfilling is teaching at juvenile detention. I tell my students often how much I learn from them. I’ve made my mistakes with them. I have damaged relationships with students because of not fully understanding their situation. However, after a real conversation, we were able to move on.

Over the past five years. I’ve come to realize different students need different things. I can’t believe each student will respond the same in my classes. I must ask questions and take the time to learn.

I recently came in contact with a young lady who was sexually abused by various men. She entered the classroom visibly in distress. At first, I assumed she had an attitude but that wasn’t the case. She was in emotional pain and estranged from her mother.

I began to ask questions and get to know her. Her story tore at my spirit. I learned about the damage being inflicted on our young women by evil human beings. We earned her trust and soon we were helping her find resources to assist her in leaving that life. I learned about my own biases because of this encounter with this one young woman. I was introduced to the ugliness of the sex traffic industry and how it chews up women and spits them out damaged on the other side.

The violence my kids endure is unbelievable. The lessons I’ve learned about street violence among teens are invaluable. A young man recently explained in graphic detail how he witnessed the shooting of a friend. Eyes rimmed with awful pain he told me about how the young man is struggling for his life. He wants to leave the lifestyle behind but it’s all he knows.

He is indoctrinated, and believing in something different is nearly impossible. I’ve learned the solutions to these problems are multifaceted. It will take a village to stop the murdering in our urban neighborhoods.

We can learn a great deal from children if we are willing to listen especially the ones who are living lives we can’t fathom.

I’ve learned to listen and not to judge. Furthermore, you cannot be insincere when speaking to kids or even adults during emotional or spiritual pain. Sometimes all you can do is listen and give no advice. On occasion, a person only needs you to listen. We often want to interject with little tidbits of advice but doing that can turn the person off to the conversation. We can learn a great deal from children if we are willing to listen especially the ones who are living lives we can’t fathom.

Listen to the old ones.

The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. Jean Paul

The “Old Ones” are human beings blessed enough to live to old age. They’ve witnessed many things in their lives. Their hourglass is more transparent than ours, and due to that, they can make keen observations about different paths in life. When we go to them to ask questions, their experiences shine through. Throughout their lives, they stood at the crossroads and took a wrong turn.

They fell into the potholes you are approaching in your journey. Life’s mishaps taught them well, and now they want to pass the information on to you. However, we often don’t listen and must move in our directions. We’ve all shunned the advice of the “Old Ones” in favor of our own decision.

We are often not ready to listen to wise advice until we have experienced a few downfalls. We must learn our lessons and build our wisdom. Once we’ve lived a little bit, we may return to that parent or grandparent ready to absorb all the sage wisdom they have to offer.

A few final thought about life lessons.

Life is hard. It is not too short, it is too long. But you have to learn how to live; you have to have a sense of humor. Carolina Herrera

At times life is hard. It doesn’t say sorry when it slaps you in the face. life doesn’t pick you up and soothe your wounds. It stands back and stares at you. It won’t yell get up or offer words of encouragement. Life needs to see your mettle or strength. We must be resilient and ready for the next test. Life is a teacher with no remorse for your mistakes.

However, the lessons it teaches are invaluable. You hope to pass these onto your children, so they don’t make your mistakes. We don’t want our children mauled my life, but unfortunately, it will happen, and there is nothing we can do to protect them for it.

They must stand in the classroom of life themselves and take the lessons offered to them. Our kids must learn as we did. Trust they will be alright because as I like to say life is the best teacher. Peace Y’all