Gracias!

Well, y’all been wondering why it took me so long to write (those who read this blog of course)… I could go ahead and bore you with sixteen months self discovery journey, but we all know how that goes... yawn! Plus this post is not really about me.

Last year today, I had just lost my job as an academic tutor in NIBS Technical College( what a great time for a comeback!) and I was still at the first stage of grief, wait who am I kidding…giggles! I went through all the stages at the same time… one moment angry, the next depressed, then in denial, let’s just say my emotions were all over the place and… sorry this post is not about me!

It’s about a particular category of people who gave me the reason to keep on keeping on… my students or as I call them now - friends. As wrote in my earlier post  250 Reasons ... I asked God to give me a reason everyday to wake up and go to work; he gave me 250 reasons…my students…although now they are a little more than 250.

This somewhat simple fact saw me get out of bed each morning for the seven months of unemployment with a new trust in God that things would be better. Since I had a lot of free time I got a chance to analyze a lot of things I took for granted but were slowly building my character for the tough times I was to face… all from a simple act of interacting with the over 250 of them every day. Something that got me into trouble a dozen times with the management who claimed I was over socializing- let’s not go there yet though.

My friends (students) reminded me of me when my dream of becoming a great editor were still uncorrupt with frustration, which made me explode with an urge to break free from my unpleasant cocoon and be more… do more. The ignorance of how little they knew about the industry they were getting into which opened up a million chances to embolden them to pursue more…which consequently had a mutual effect on my insides.

The frustration I saw on their faces as I rejected one after another picture because deep down I knew the more I push the more I awaken all the creativity in them, which kept me on toes to keep up with the constant changing trends. Their complains, which I got mad at but later giggle at knowing that someday the complains would actually be compliments. Their sense of humor which kept mine awake too, the laughs I had in class were the most genuine I ever got all the time I was in Nibs.

The clueless faces that looked up to me as I went on and on teaching social studies- whispers (most of the times I didn’t even know what I was talking about in that class…huhu!)

All in all, they may not know it, but those lecture rooms filled with the most enthusiastic young people I ever met (a few annoying ones too) gave me something that great people die without experiencing. Humbling and stressful as they were, the two years with my friends (students) were the most educative I ever had. Took me a while to realize, but now that I do, thank you guys… I respect you!