You know, something I’ve always inspired to do, but never really had the drive to really accomplish, is to make a difference in someone’s life. I try doing little things, random acts that make people’s lives better, and I suppose that yes, I have touched some lives. When I think of my mother, and how her passing affected so much people, I want to have the same effect on the people around me (without the whole dying part, of course).

Last week, Claudine sent me an email telling me that one of our highschool teachers had died. Not just any teacher, it was one of the teachers that you look back on your life and think, “He taught us a lot more than what was on the lesson plan.” Mr. M was probably my second favorite teacher ever (first, of course, being my high school band teacher). He was a history teacher, but he was so much more. I went to an all-girl Catholic high school, and he knew it was his responsibility to make us great. When we started out as freshman, we weren’t people to him - once we were able to think on our own, not to be afraid to challenge and debate and not just spout words from books, THAT’S when we became people. History wasn’t just stuff in a textbook, it was a lesson in life. He brought in movies to highlight events in time, he used MTV as a teaching tool, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was a large part of his teaching plan, we learned about Vietnam from his own personal experiences. He didn’t talk to us, he talked with us. Also, since he taught a lot of the honors classes, he knew that his students were often stressed, but always told his students of the bigger picture - high school wasn’t everything. Tests were just stop signs in the road of life. Anyone who took his class knew how much he cared for each one of his students - he wanted us to be great, he pushed us to think, and he loved to make us laugh. He had such a passion for teaching, and put it on his shoulders to make sure that we were ready for the world out there. I’d have to say, though, that one of my favorite memories was on Halloween, when he brought in “The Evil Dead 2″ for us to watch.

My highschool set up a memory book where people could write in their favorite memories…it was beautiful to read. He started teaching at my school in 1979, and was still teaching until he passed. For 30 years, he had been making an impact on these womens’ lives - there were many who wrote that he had been their inspiration to go into teaching, or to pursue political science in law. I can only hope that he knew how much he has meant to so many people…

So goodbye, Mr. M, and I hope that heaven has a lot of Polo cologne in stock.

Tags: Memories //