Beyond Being a Teacher

Beyond being a teacher

from Mr. Billington

To my students…

Well guys, where to start. 

Thank you—I think that’s a good place to start.  Thank you for putting up with me as your teacher, and for perhaps even sending a smile or two my direction from time to time.  Thanks for putting up with me sleeping through class, stuttering through explanations, losing a paper or two, and severely misjudging you more times than once.  Thanks for providing the stress and struggle needed for me to make some really awesome insights into myself, people, and life.  Though teaching here has been one of the hardest, most discouraging things I’ve ever done, I will miss Pohnpei… almost exclusively because of you guys.

Sadly, I think friendship and teaching do not go hand-in-hand.  I feel that I hardly know so many of you, and that you guys have seen someone in front of the classroom every day who is barely me.  It’s almost like teaching is a show, an act that I put on, and I’m playing a part… anyway, I’m writing this letter to share a few parting words about the things that I hold to be truly important in life… yes… more than Algebra I, Physics, and Biology (or English 11).  Believe it or not, it feels like six months ago I was in your shoes… high school, the wide-open and slightly scary yet exciting horizon of life gaping before me, trying to figure out what was important, and what was important about me.  Here are a few things I feel I couldn’t share as your teacher about what I’ve found out about life… again, this is only me speaking about what I know.  These insights are not facts—just things I’ve found to be true—and they might not be true for you, but I feel compelled to share them.

When all is said and done, I think its relationships that make you happy in life, both in the long run and the day to day.

I think that knowledge is power, guys.  Good power.  In interactions with others, knowledge of who I am and why I react certain ways or feel certain emotions, knowledge of the financial world of jobs and success and opportunity, knowledge of the basic needs and desires of people—needs and desires that exist simply because they are human… such knowledge gives me incredible opportunities.  Strive for knowledge.  You create who you are, and you are the only one who will determine how much you know in and about life.

I think my world opens up when I listen to the insights of others.  I spend far too little time listening, and far too much time trying to make others listen and understand me.  It’s so easy to believe that everything in life is about me, and to only see my needs while ignoring the needs of those around me.  But it’s a strange thing—when I seek to meet other people’s needs, mine own needs are fulfilled more fully and deeply than ever.

Beauty is a blessing and a curse, girls.  Men chase women because we think they are the great adventure of life, but then we don’t know what to do when we catch the girl… we get bored, and start looking around again for another adventure.  The best dating relationships are the deepest friendships that grow beyond being merely friends.  Dating should be fun—if you aren’t having stellar times together (and believe it or not everyone, physical stuff gets does get old…), then something is not quite right.

God is not about church, church people, not doing drugs and alcohol, or reading the Bible 24/7.  For me, God is about the best and fullest way to live life.  Salvation simply comes down to a simple question:  do I think I’m broken, messed up, and that God knows a better way to live?  And do I want to try (and fail, but hey… I’m trying and that’s what counts) to live that way? 

Though God saves us, I can help choose how useful of a tool I can be in this world.  Strive to make yourself the best person you can, especially in how you interact with people… yet remember it is Jesus who saves us, and changes us when we are helpless to change ourselves.

For me, Christianity isn’t about some guy that died on a cross 2,000 years ago.  I follow Jesus because of what he did in my life yesterday, and last week.  I follow Jesus because something inside me wants to believe in him, to hope that there is something more to life.  And that “something more” didn’t happen 2,000 years go… I saw it 5 minutes ago in a kid’s smile, and this morning in how one of you forgave me after I blew up at you…

Lastly, none of this matters unless you believe you’re worth something… unless you believe that you have something to offer the world.  That you are unique.  That you are special.  Guys (a term where I’m from that just means “everyone”), you’ve changed my life, and I barely know you.  Every person has something to offer this world—a perspective completely unique to them.  Did you know that the greatest insights in science were made by scientists comparing their insights and findings with each other?  The greatest accomplishments of the world come through different, shared perspectives… and how you see the world is a perspective completely unique to you.  You can offer me something that no one else in the entire universe can… and my world can be made better and broader by being friends with you, and attempting to see the world through your eyes.  I hope you learn to see each person as a perspective of infinite value.

Third quarter was incredibly hard for me this year.  Losing my English 11 class, and picking up Algebra 1 made it feel like I was starting over.  Every teacher goes through a period where we have to be really strict—I call it the “hate phase” because all your students hate your guts, and for good reason *laughs*.  But now, with our Nett adventures and your jokes, awesome smiles, and hellos, I feel like a lot you guys have become my friends this last quarter.  And your friendship makes the ridiculously long hours of grading, struggling attempts to make class interesting and academically stellar, and the occasional bit of classroom hell… your friendship makes it all worth it.  Thank you for joking around with me, for still be friendly even after a crack down in class, and for giving me something terrific to remember about Pohnpei—and that’s you guys… *laughs* yes, even the guys who gave me that bit of classroom hell.  I’ll remember each one of you because of this:  you have become part of my story, part of my life, and molded the very fabric of who I am.   This year will always have a special place in my heart… thanks for teaching me, guys.

Sincerely,

Ryan Billington