Sleep in Peace
I am used to having my Outlook inbox flood with emails, especially from my College (California College of the Arts) Alumni mailing list. But today a message was entitled with a former instructor's name and sadly the body of the email revealed his recent passing. He was one of those reputably tough teachers who instilled his own presence with his aged knowledge. I didn't even know he had cancer, as it explained. He used to tell us architecture students after our frequent all-nighters that we'd have plenty of time to "sleep when we're dead" so tonight I pray that Victor Carrasco is sleeping with God.
This brings to mind other teachers who have remained embedded in my mind throughout these years and who I've often hoped to give gratitude to. Some time ago, I requested the contact information of some of my high school instructors only to find one of them. I quickly wrote him a Thank You note although I don't know if that information was current or if the note had reached him. Mr. Phipps opened my eyes to the fascination of history. He taught it well and encouraged me to take the AP exam. I was one of 3 that passed. It was from his class that I grew an affinity for Jeopardy and now its on my To-do-list to one day make it on Jeopardy...although recently I've been rought at it when I tune in to the show. Alex Trebec doesn't age and the set sure has gotten fancier these days.
Another high school instructor that I fondly recall was my Freshman Theology teacher, Mr. Theodore Dorsey....who quit because of the mean spirit of our juvenile class. They continuously ridiculed and disrespected him because he was a really large and akward man. I remember his head was just about under the door header and he had greasy glasses. I actually really enjoyed his class and recognized that he was a true Biblical scholar that knew more history that those nuns ever did. When an earthquake struck, he was panic-stricken and the students never let him forget. Everytime those low-riders would come thumping by the school, they would yell "EARTHQUAKE" at him just to startle him. I felt really bad and I wasn't one of those who would laugh. These were just a handful of people who would repeatedly do this to him. Anyway I've done people searches and google searches and its just impossible. I hope he's in a better place now.
I just think how little compensation and scarce respect teachers can get and I hope that they know the important roles they play....before they die. Nevertheless, there are a lot of bullshit teachers out there and I'm glad I've never really had that problem...except maybe once. I could never take it on as a career. Kids could be really mean. I could think of more instances of when classmates were unbearably mean to a teacher. Many of them cried! (the teachers, not the students!)