April 18, 2013
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The Daily News
1 "Mr. Harrington, why are you so cool?"---student in my second period class.2 How do you answer a thing like that?
3 You don't.
4 This guy had been a bit of a rebel earlier in the school year. He refused early to do any sort of work.
5 It alarmed me.
6 Towards the middle of the first semester he had dug himself a hole out of which I saw little hope.
7 Some do this.
8 It was obvious that his parents worried about him.
9 I can't even speculate.
10 And I won't.
11 Sidebar: Is "won't" an abbreviation of "Woe not?"
12 Oh bother.
13 I simply won't.
14 Moving on, Part One: I guess it's fun being a cool teacher.
15 I always thought that I was, in a strange sort of way.
16 I always did because I see this profession as a calling.
17 All right, all right, I'll stop.
18 Anybody looking?
19 I wouldn't have posted this, except that seven teachers received an email message from a student who had been swept into the emergency room last night two nights ago, just before midnight.
20 She just wrote to let us all know that she was in emergency.
21 I have no other news.
22 This student made a huge impact on me around a week ago.
23 I could see that she was going through some sort of drastic turmoil, but that she also wanted to keep up on her school work.
24 I was flying around the room as is my wont, telling stories, trying to reel everyone in, and teaching about the greatest writer in the King's English.
25 After class, we had a break, and she said, "Mr. Harrington, you are passionate about teaching."
26 To take this enchantment down a peg, I really have been. Lately I have been getting a bit worn down by it, but I always prided myself in trying to become a better teacher, year after year.
27 After a particularly grueling month, I welcomed that comment, and became inspired by it. I work extremely hard. I keep way up on my grades. I try to remain patient and kind. It is harder work than it seems, trust me. Like anything, you have to put in a lot of hours to be successful in any walk of life.
28 Both moments sent me back to my earliest years of wondering what I wanted to do for a living.
29 I remember watching in awe some of my better teachers, and thinking, "I think being a teacher would be the coolest job in the world."
30 I watched the greatest teachers ever in action. They were the ones who were clearly passionate, energetic, and immersed in the awesomeness of what they brought to their students.
31 That was the guy I wanted to become.
32 It looked so easy.
33 The secret, I thought, was to charm.
34 My favorite teachers all had smiles and charm.
35 I thought to myself, "How do I achieve that?"
37 One doesn't have an answer.
38 It's like anyone who has a calling.
39 It just sort of unfolds.
40 I always think that I was one of the lucky ones.
41 Was it Pope who said, "Happy is the man who has found his work."
42 I think it was from Paradise Lost, but then it might well have been from The Simpsons, for all I know here on this lovely afternoon.
43 Might have been the Pope.
44 Who knows?
45 As I write this, I am hanging at around five yesterday afternoon, chillin' on Crystal Light and Nutella.
46 As I write, I am sitting on this new chair I have, which I have affectionately named "The Chair."
47 I almost went into a Zen state, but I'm really the nervous sort.
48 I prefer catnaps over Zen anyway.
49 Moving on, Part Two: Congrats to the Warriors and to Steph Curry, the greatest three-guy of all time. Thanks Bay Area sports, for allowing us at least to make a few meek adjustments from a world that is getting weirder and weirder.
50 How do we have another explosion this fast? How does someone send a poison letter to a senator two days ago and to the President yesterday?
51 All of this looks a bit suspicious if you ask me. It smacks of an agenda. I've read too much over the years about mind control, the CIA, and some of the shenanigans revolving around FEMA not to be suspicious.
52 Anybody looking?
53 I'd better go.
54 I'm to the point that I'm not going to listen to the media anymore.
55 I'll see you again. Take care.
56 Peace.
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
