Published: October 15, 2009 10:00 pm         

Remembering all the teachers of our youth

Each and every one of us is an open history book. Our lives, what we do, how we act, how we interrelate, how we learn, all help make up our individual history on Earth. So, unless you are a celebrity, a big-time athlete or a politician (at least in their minds), most of us probably consider our lives inconsequential.

But, you’d be wrong. Everything we do or learn has a consequence, no matter how small. Every person we help to bring into the world adds to our collective history. If we do a good act that helps another, it adds incrementally to our history, just as doing a bad act has the same effect in a negative way. And everything we learn or choose to ignore can have either a good or a bad effect on everyone around us.

It’s taken more than a few years for me to realize how lucky I was to have had quality teachers in my youth.

We begin with our parents teaching right from wrong, manners, how to walk, talk and play well with others. But it’s when we head off for school real learning takes place. And not just book learning. We learn values from teachers, how to work hard, be responsible, interact with our fellow students and all the things that come with school — reading, writing and arithmetic.

If I could go back and thank each and every one of my teachers over the years, I would. That’s not to say I didn’t whine and complain about them while I was in school. Shoot, I hated homework just as much as the next person, thought I was unjustly treated sometimes and forced to do work and study things I would never use in later life.

But I was wrong. Today, I use everything I was taught.

I always wondered why math and science were so hard for me, yet reading and writing came so easy. I guess I was lucky to have inherited writing genes, as well as understanding what I read (save for tax regulations, which are written by and for Martians).

Yet, because they didn’t come easy for me, math and science forced me to work harder and think.

Ah, there’s the thing I didn’t realize was going on while slaving at home over a geometry problem.

I’d say the vast majority of students (and too many parents) fail to grasp that simple logic. Yet, I use the problem-solving portion of my early learning each and every day of my life. I just take it for granted, as most of us do.

So, my hat is off to my teachers.

I learned much in my first four grades at Waukomis Elementary School, from Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Gifford, Mrs. Gossett and Mrs. Atherton. They set me and my classmates up for future success, even if it was lost on us at the time.

And when I reached junior high and high school, I think back to everything my teachers gave me, from George Milacek’s history classes, to the English and literature sessions of Howard Domnick and Norma Falls, the science classes of Jack Braley, ag under C.F. Hays, music under Jim McPherson and on and on.

I received a phone call a few weeks back, while I was working the news desk at this newspaper. It came right out of the blue.

The voice on the other end asked if this was David. I said, “Yes it is.”

The voice asked if this was David Christy. Again, I said, “Yes it is.”

The voice said, “I’ll bet you’ll never guess who this is?”

I hesitated only a few seconds, then immediately said, “This isn’t Mrs. Falls, is it?”

It was my high school English teacher, calling to tell me how much she enjoyed this column.

I think she was taken aback I would recognize her voice after so many years away from 1968 Waukomis High. Yet, in my mind, it was just like yesterday.

How can you forget a voice from your past that helped get you to this point in your life?

So the next time I hit a snag at work and a problem stands in the way of getting out another edition of this newspaper, I will have been completely prepared to figure out how to overcome the obstacle.

Oh, I’ll grouse about it and complain, think it’s unfair to have fallen upon me to fix, but all I have to do is think back to the preparation for this very event and see the faces and use the lessons I learned many years ago. The problem will get fixed and I’ll go on about my business.

But you can bet I’ll never forget all my old teachers. I still see the faces of those who did their best for 12 years to prepare me to solve daily dilemmas.

And ... it would be a monumental mistake for any of us to ever forget them.



Christy is news editor at the News & Eagle, and can be reached at davidc@enidnews.com.