Do yourself a favor…
Look up an old teacher, someone you’ve thought about for years, but have lost touch with.
Google them, and try LinkedIn and Facebook. But you might have to dig around a bit to find them. You might have to go to an online phone book, or even a print version (yes, some towns still have those). Or even call the school and track them down that way. Even if they’re retired now, the school will probably be able to help you find them.
Call them up, tell them a specific memory you have of them, and thank them for helping you become a better person.
And if you’re in the same town, take them out to lunch.
Teachers run into old students all the time on the street. The now-grown students ask, “Hey, remember me,” but the teacher can’t, because the old students are now middle-aged, bald, and fifty pounds heavier.
But believe it or not, even the best teachers go years, sometimes a decade, without an old student calling them out of the blue and saying thanks, you meant a lot to me, I still think about you often after all these years.
People love to know they’ve changed the world around them. Especially teachers. There’s a reason they do what they do.
Imagine being in their shoes, you have to spend all day surrounded by kids who act like they don’t care. Then out of the blue, an old student you haven’t seen in 20 years calls you and says, “Thank you so much, I’ve been trying to live your lessons every day for the past 20 years”.
After you get a phone call like that, the next time you have to go stand up in front of a bunch of bored-looking kids, you’re going to remember exactly why you do what you do.
That’s a great gift to give someone. And you have it within your power to give that gift.
Besides, when you honor another person, you honor yourself.
By the way, this post was inspired by Craig Wight, who is retired now but taught shop at Mt. Whitney High, and whom I knew in 1984-85, when I was 14-15 years old. 25 years later, it was an honor to see him again and thank him for being a guide in my life every year since then.