Child, You are My Diamond

From the Front Page Sections, translated…

On the eve of Mother’s Day, there was an event celebrating the occasion at school, the students worked together, to make a large card to give to their homeroom instructor, to show their gratitude, seeing the children put their childish words on the card, I’d started, smiling to myself. Later on, as I read through their assignment books, there was a small card that fell out of Ming’s assignment book that had, “Teacher, do you remember crying yesterday? When I saw you, I knew, that you are, a sturdy, and hardworking instructor. Teacher, keep working hard! Because your mommy is watching over you from heaven!”, right then and there, I’d started, crying.

Yesterday, I’d used half a class to show a video to the students about mothers, and there was a line, “when mom gave birth to me, she’d cut off my cord, this, was the greatest loss of my entire life. As mom died, she’d severed off the umbilical cord of emotion I have connected to her, this, is the sorrows of my life.”

I’d told my students, “You’re now teenagers, and it would be hard to avoid, getting into confrontations with your mothers, but, your mothers gave birth to you, took care of you, they’d put in the hard work. And even if you can’t make it home and sweeten them up with the words, you need to at least, carry that heart of gratitude, do carry a better attitude with your mothers. And, even as your moms nagged you, it would be an act of love, don’t be like me, can’t hear a single word from my own mom, how I hoped, to hear her words again, even if it’s when she’s scolding me, I’ll be, overjoyed. You must all cherish the time you have your moms around.”

And maybe, Ming can understand how I felt, because his mom left him when he was a young child, his elderly father took care of him and his two younger brothers, and, even though, he was brought up in such a harsh condition, he’d managed to keep his grades up at a certain level; after school, he’d rushed home, to fix up the household, he is courteous to the adults, and what’s more, he’d carried that heart of caring and concerns toward others. And maybe, it’s his family background that made him who he is, like how the diamond must be compressed using high pressure, in order to shine so brightly.

Ming’s card made me feel so very amazing, sometimes, I’d begun to doubt if my nagging is working, and how much exactly, are the kids taking in, at least, Ming heard me loud and clear, I’d encouraged him, “child, you are my diamond, and maybe, you’re not shining yet, but, with a hard-working heart and compassion toward others, and your desire to keep on enriching your life with a multitude of experiences. I’m more than positive, that you will, find a stage to shine on, then, you will be able to help many more others, making yourself into, a REAL diamond!”

And so, this, is the experience of a school teacher, who’d become like a mother to her students, and, that just shows how important the roles of the school teachers are, because as children get older, they will spend more and more time away from home, and by then, their parents’ influences on their behaviors are reduced, as the significant others change throughout the developing child’s life.