Life Lesson #26: Teachers

A few days ago, my school witnessed its annual Teachers' Day Celebrations, which coincided with our annual class song competition. I'm glad to report that my class managed to come in as champions during our final year, which was our best and most enjoyable performance to date.

Check out the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDBG6yRXAY

Anyway, the highlight of the day wasn't the competition. It was the celebrations in tribute to our teachers.

Soon after our class song performance, the entire graduation class came together to present a performance for the teachers. It consisted of a remake and recombination of songs that we hoped brought back our teachers' memories.

The link to the performance is as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvseyl35MPY

It was a big challenge for us to put up this performance. It required lots of courage and improvisation.

We had barely two weeks to prepare this performance. It wasn't because we took it lightly, but because my friends and I (the first four people on stage - also known as 'The Debate Team' in school, though we've retired last year) could not coordinate our schedules for time to practise.

And then there was the issue of song arrangement. We had NO experience whatsoever in song arrangement, let alone in "remixing" songs (some of which I did not even know how to sing at first). We picked six songs - in the end, we went with four remixed songs, and a short intro performance before that.

After some transposition, rearranging, and crisis control, we finalized our performance, with a gamble on some traditional Chinese drums (muffled with cloth to create the effect of a proper Western one).

At the last minute, the entire graduation class wanted to join in. By last minute, I mean the very day before the performance was due. We did a quick and brief run-through of the songs, and frantically posted links to the original songs so that they could pick up the songs.

On the day itself, there were mistakes aplenty. I (the guitarist), at several times, played a different tempo to the drummer, and the actions were by no means, perfect. There were pitch problems, minor technical issues, confusion regarding the "bridge" between songs, and some of us didn't even know the final song had ended.

In short, it was a mess, albeit a mess we had fun "creating".

And to my surprise, as I served up a lunch box gift to a teacher (along with my fellow graduation class students), the teacher said she loved our performance and looked forward to our performances during our graduation dinner.

We were praying hard for the teachers to at least find our performance mediocre, or merely satisfying, but here there was a teacher telling me that our performance made her day.

And then I realized - the answer was so simple. As a teacher, all she wanted was a heartfelt wish, which came in the form of a "messed-up" performance.

While teachers are so easily touched by our small gestures, why do we expect so much from them to truly appreciate their efforts?

A teacher's greatest pleasure is in helping his or her student pave the way to their desired future. It is this spirit that keeps them going day after day, in the midst of troubled students, helicopter parents, tight schedules and little personal time.

So don't they deserve something aside from the customary "Thank you"?

To all the teachers who have graced my life, Happy Teachers' Day!

And if you haven't done it yet, do it today!

Timing is key; but the heart matters most. :)