I liked a teacher from high school—He taught me something.
This is a letter to him:
Dear Mr. DeVore,
I still call you 'Mr. DeVore' out of the respect I have for you as a teacher. I'm not going to refer to you as "De-vo" or "Devore" because I've grown to appreciate teachers who actually teach students something. And feel that if no other sect of people in the world deserves a pre-fix, good teachers do.
I hope you don't read this email as you would a student's paper, but rather as you would a birthday card from a four year old. I don't want you to critique my grammar or spelling (I will be using spell check), nor do I want you to analyze the motive. I just want you to read the text and take them for the words that they represent.
I've wanted to write you for almost a year now--after my freshman English class ended. For my whole first year in college I went through what I thought the normal freshman experience. And I hated every minute of it. I wasted so much time doing what I thought everyone wanted me to do and so little of what I cared about. TO THIS DAY I am confused about who I really want to become, or if I want to become anything more than I already am... But that is off the wall stuff.
I remember one of the last days of school, in your class my senior year. It was when all our assignments were graded and there wasn't anything else for you to do; you had dished out everything that you had planned and we (students) were still seated in the same places where we had began (your class). I think about this day on a weekly basis now--when I'm confused about what I want to do, where I see myself, how I want to live, what I value--you gave a little motivational speech. I don't know if you were angry with how irresponsible we all were, or if is something that you do at the end of every year. All I know is that in that minute and thirty seconds something more valuable than any combination of words ever assigned to me.
You talked about passion, how it is really the only thing that drives people (or something of the sort).
You said, "No matter what happens in life, chase your passion and you will make the world a better place... Running to your passion will make you and everyone around you a better person."
I've searched my whole college life for my passion because for so many years (all the way through high school) I was told what my passion should be. Sometimes I feel like your routine "end of the year" speech is all that I have to remind me that there is something in this world that can make me happy, and that I can use to make the world happier.
I guess this letter is just a dragged out 'thank you card' but that is what I want to say to you Travis DeVore.
I thank you for inspiring me to search for me, and I hope that you understand the affect it has had on my life.
Please share with everyone around you the 'passion' that you shared with me.
You alone change the world for me.
Mtn. Home High School could (have) really suck(ed).
-Zachary.
p.s. I'm pretty sure that it is close to that time again.
I still call you 'Mr. DeVore' out of the respect I have for you as a teacher. I'm not going to refer to you as "De-vo" or "Devore" because I've grown to appreciate teachers who actually teach students something. And feel that if no other sect of people in the world deserves a pre-fix, good teachers do.
I hope you don't read this email as you would a student's paper, but rather as you would a birthday card from a four year old. I don't want you to critique my grammar or spelling (I will be using spell check), nor do I want you to analyze the motive. I just want you to read the text and take them for the words that they represent.
I've wanted to write you for almost a year now--after my freshman English class ended. For my whole first year in college I went through what I thought the normal freshman experience. And I hated every minute of it. I wasted so much time doing what I thought everyone wanted me to do and so little of what I cared about. TO THIS DAY I am confused about who I really want to become, or if I want to become anything more than I already am... But that is off the wall stuff.
I remember one of the last days of school, in your class my senior year. It was when all our assignments were graded and there wasn't anything else for you to do; you had dished out everything that you had planned and we (students) were still seated in the same places where we had began (your class). I think about this day on a weekly basis now--when I'm confused about what I want to do, where I see myself, how I want to live, what I value--you gave a little motivational speech. I don't know if you were angry with how irresponsible we all were, or if is something that you do at the end of every year. All I know is that in that minute and thirty seconds something more valuable than any combination of words ever assigned to me.
You talked about passion, how it is really the only thing that drives people (or something of the sort).
You said, "No matter what happens in life, chase your passion and you will make the world a better place... Running to your passion will make you and everyone around you a better person."
I've searched my whole college life for my passion because for so many years (all the way through high school) I was told what my passion should be. Sometimes I feel like your routine "end of the year" speech is all that I have to remind me that there is something in this world that can make me happy, and that I can use to make the world happier.
I guess this letter is just a dragged out 'thank you card' but that is what I want to say to you Travis DeVore.
I thank you for inspiring me to search for me, and I hope that you understand the affect it has had on my life.
Please share with everyone around you the 'passion' that you shared with me.
You alone change the world for me.
Mtn. Home High School could (have) really suck(ed).
-Zachary.
p.s. I'm pretty sure that it is close to that time again.
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