Teachers’ Day 2020

I don’t usually do this but I thought that this year was pretty special.

Today is Teachers’ Day. And  I just wanted to dig a little deeper this year.

By definition, a teacher is anyone who teaches or instructs. And by that definition, we shouldn’t just be celebrating our teachers from school today.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love my teachers. I think they are some the most amazing people I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting. They taught me not just content knowledge, but gave me pointers on how to navigate life and helped me to understand myself a little better.

But as I grew up and as I took that half a step into the working world this year, I started to see that my learning and the same kind of work of all my teachers didn’t just stop when I left the classroom. When I was younger, it stopped simply because I didn’t have very many opportunities to interact with them outside the classroom.

But this year, I met teachers outside the classroom.

In my earlier posts describing my work experience, I’ve also mentioned the people who helped me grow this year. Looking back, there were also things that I learnt not from my teachers, but from my peers, people whom I used to call friends.

So this year, here’s my appreciation post.

To all my teachers who taught me when I was in school, thank you. Thank you for teaching me and making this road much much smoother for me. I may not always have been the best kid in class, but I genuinely enjoyed your lessons and appreciated all that you’ve done for us.

To my bosses at work, the mentors that I found, Thank you for all that you’ve taught me. Thank you for being so selfless in sharing, for talking me through my narrative and for guiding me even when you didn’t have to.

To my friends, the most amazing group of people who are always helping me learn to be a better me, thank you.

To everyone who has hurt me in the past, thank you for teaching me some of the most impactful lessons I’ve had.

To my students, officially you guys are my students but you guys taught me so much when I interacted with you. I’ve said this before in my other posts, so I won’t be a nag, but you guys know how much you guys mean to me.

I just wanted to reiterate. I’m not trying to take the spotlight away from school teachers with this post, they are amazing and they deserve all the love they receive today, and every day of the year. I just wanted to take this chance to thank all my teachers, in school and in life.