A Simple Thank You

Sarah. That’s my name. Oh and by the way, I’m dead. I was trapped in a

burning lab 10 years ago. I’m in a great place now. Heaven is really heavenly. It has

everything you ever wanted. I wish I could live here forever, oh wait, I am living here

forever. However, sometimes it could get quite lonely up here. To occupy myself, I

love looking down on earth and see how the people live their lives. One day, when I

was looking down on earth I saw a young girl excited about going to school for the

last time in her life. She was as excited as a girl entering the first grade for the first

time. After seeing her, a river of memory started flowing in my head.

The year was 1999, I was teaching at a rural school. It wasn’t the most

pleasant school in the world but it sure was the one I valued most. The students

weren’t geniuses but they worked really hard to make a change. They were from

poor families; some can’t even afford to put food on the table. How I admire their

spirits. There was a girl named Lisa that I taught. Like so many others, she too was

poor. However, she didn’t let this get in the way of her success. Her family showed

me their gratitude in so many ways, though they did not have any money, they would

give me anything that they could afford to give. Some days, they would give me fish

that they caught that day, other days they would give me the green vegetables they

plant on their backyard. I felt much appreciation.

I taught in that rural school for 5 years, I watched Lisa grow from her preteen

years to her early adult years. She passed her exams with flying colours and was

able to further her studies overseas. She surely did turn the boat for her families.

After she completed her school years, she still contacted me to ask how I was doing

and such. She was easily my all time favourite student. After 5 years I was

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transferred to a school in the city, at first I was excited. Of course I was sad to leave

the rural areas but I was longing for a change. On my first day with the city kids, I

was certainly impressed at their level of thinking. They were totally different from the

rural kids. They were really smart. Teaching them was not a problem. However, I felt

a sense of emptiness around them. They treated me like I was nothing more than

just a teacher. They respected me in class, but when I bumped into them outside of

school, they acted as if I was a total stranger. I kept asking myself why they are

doing this to me, maybe they are embarrassed with me, or maybe I’m not as wealthy

as their families so they feel disgusted to interact with me. Whatever the answer may

be, it was unknown to me.

One day while I was teaching them like all the other days, a student stood up

and told me that what I was teaching them was different than what their tuition

teacher taught them. I was speechless, so I told him that different teachers teach

differently. After I said that some of students started talking back. They told me that

all their tuition teachers were a lot better than me. I was hurt. They didn’t appreciate

me and they also thought that their success was none of my effort. Though I was

hurt, I did not want to hurt them back, I realized that they were too young to think of

their actions, so I kept everything to myself.

Since I was a chemistry teacher, most of my time was spent inside the

chemistry lab. I was preparing the chemicals for an experiment my class was going

to conduct on that day since the lab assistant was absent on that day. When I went

inside to get the chemicals, I tripped and caused a whole shelf of chemicals to fall. I

don’t really remember what happened next, but all I saw was bright lights

everywhere and the next thing I knew was that I was in heaven.

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 After I realized that it was possible to see down below once you were in

heaven, I got curious to how my students would react to my death. So, I looked down

and saw my own funeral. I saw that many people attended my funeral, mostly

students. However, I sensed no grief or sadness in their eyes. It was as if they were

attending my funeral just because they wanted to skip school for that day. They were

busy looking at their phones and talking to their friends. I wonder if they even

realized that their own teacher was dead, but I guessed they just didn’t care. Out of

all those many people, one caught my eyes. A young woman was crying her eyes

out. She was crying as if her own mother died. It was Lisa. I was touched when I saw

this. I wonder to myself, this girl who had nothing, knows exactly how to appreciate a

teacher but why are all these city kids who had everything at the tip of their fingers

find it so hard to let out that simple thank you.

All my students grew up and became successful people, but none of them

bothered to contact me once they had finished school. Teaching is an occupation,

but teachers are human beings with feelings just like every other person in this

world. They may not be a student after they have finished school, but I will forever be

their teacher. We are not asking for money, just a simple thank you would be enough

for years worth of knowledge.

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