COMMENTARY
One of the great joys and struggles of teaching is working with students. I enjoy it very much, even when it gets hard, which it often does. Yet, it seems every semester I have the opportunity to be invigorated again when my classroom turns into a public speaking venue.
Students are asked to nominate someone as their hero and argue why their name deserves to be on the Hero Wall just outside the room.
Where else can Taylor Swift hang out with Harriet Tubman? There, too, is the 1936 American crew team which defeated the field to win the Gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. The fastest runner per lap in that Olympics was Louis Zamperini. He joins them. A student nominated his friend because he led him to the Christian faith. Oh yes, LeBron James and Draymond Green are duking it out on the wall; matching each other basket for basket.
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A student who is interested in World War I researched a soldier to present to the class. A passionate young girl nominated Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Several female students nominated their dads. As a father of a daughter, this was moving.
As we finished the nominations and the presentations this semester, I could not help thinking about my teachers, mentors, and heroes. Bernard Noble coached basketball and taught biology at South Caldwell High School. He considered it normal to stick his entire hand inside a dissected frog to explain how systems work inside an amphibian. Barbara Jones asked her students to find a book to read in order to report back to the class. Her passion for English and reading began some of my own. A college education professor took an interest in my writing and fueled it by giving me books and articles. When I began teaching, two formidable leaders mentored me. Veteran teachers countlessly exhibited greatness in the job. I listened and tried to learn. I am grateful to them for demonstrating the proper character of an educator. I learned much from them which I try to pass on to others.
I am sure, somewhere, all of us have our own wall of fame -- even if it is hidden in our heads or in our hearts.
Our heroes can be physical, cultural, or members of our own family, and someone historical who inspires us. Sometimes, it is the people we know. At other times, it is the stories we hear about individuals we could not meet which reach us to the very core of our being.
Some individuals argue we do not need heroes or great examples to instill in us some evidence of personal character. They would be wrong. We learn in life due to the work and the effects of people who do things right and are successful, but also from those who fail. And then, when we find success or overcome a tough challenge, we feel the influence and the promise of those individuals. All of us stand on the shoulders of giants whether we are aware of it or not. The stories we tell ourselves about our heroes, and the ones we pass on, add to our own character. Those people become our own cloud of witnesses. The people we carry in that cloud say a lot about who each of us are.
Helen Keller once said, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved." We are products of our past and the individuals who crossed the path of that past. Thank goodness for some of the great historical examples who have been presented to us. Those heroes of the past come home to us and give us courage, hope, and understanding. Moreover, the selfless people in our own lives who either cared for us or showed us by their example how to proceed on are still giving to us. Their lives lead us on and continue to instruct us about character.
Our characters are not fully set. Character is always there -- bobbing in the waters between success and joy and failure and hurt. Still, one of the great things about living life is being able to wrestle and grow with it like Keller said.
A quick Google search about character reveals numerous quotes about the subject from very smart people. Many of them are inspiring.
Looking at the Hero Wall with the new names on it, I am reminded of a favorite from Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Character is a natural power, like light and heat, and all nature cooperates with it. The reason why we feel one man's presence and not another's is as simple as gravity."
I recently saw a student who is not in my class go down to the wall and stand for a moment. He looked hard at it and read some of the names. Maybe he is thinking about who he might nominate and about some of the people who have shaped his character for good or ill.
I do not know if I will see him in class next semester, but I hope he thought about his own heroes and his own character and how it has been shaped.
I hope it is a good story.
Brent Tomberlin is a social studies instructor in Caldwell County and an adjunct instructor at various other institutions. He can be reached at [email protected].
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