Born to Lead

The bell rings and the morning news blares over the loudspeaker. Students are piling in from the breakfast most of them didn’t get at home. “Good morning,” Ms. Hollis, she says as she drags her slightly pigeon toed feet and bowed legs through the door. No backpack. No books. Nothing. Nothing but her sly innocence that’s slowly drifting away. “Where’s your backpack?” I rhetorically ask, knowing that it hasn’t left home in months. I no longer wonder if she’ll bring it to school, but instead I request a hug and find myself squeezing tighter than ever before. What has happened to me? I’m supposed to be in control of this situation. I’m supposed to be the teacher. Or am I? Is it possible that our roles have been reversed? Is it possible that a six year old, a less than “ideal” student, a cunning little girl could know something that I don’t? Attributing these thoughts to my end of the year stress, I immediately eject them from my cluttered mind and move along with our daily routines. I talk, they listen. I teach, they work.

The last day of school finally arrives and my eyes begin to water as students leave my classroom for the last time. Then it hit me. She wasn’t coming back and I was going to miss her. Why did I feel this way? It wasn’t her lack of desire to learn or her constant need for attention. Neither was it her consistent misbehavior and blatant disrespect. It was much more than that. She had been my teacher all along- teaching me how to love unconditionally. That’s how we change the world. Through love, we lead others into their destiny. That’s what we were born to do.