Transitions

Our dictionary defines transition this way: “movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change.” I simplify this to transformation. This carries much more impact and thoroughness than just mere change. I can change clothes; I can even change jobs; but I must transform my life if I look for a more substantial meaning and purpose as to who and what I am.

I experienced such a transition when I was fifty years of age. For over twenty-five years I was working and finally leading my family’s retail business. I was self-centered; I was chasing after the all-mighty dollar. I made decisions that profited only myself and my business. I was a failure!

Then a force stepped in; I called it fate; I now call it God. A series of occurrences changed my life forever; I was removed from my self-centered position as a self-important businessman and through the Grace of God, I was transformed into a teacher. From the first time I stepped into a classroom of middle school children until the day I retired twenty-five years later as a literature professor in college, I realized that I was not the most important thing in my life; I was not the core of my existence. My students were more important than I.

Let me explain! After one year of transformation, what the administration called a long-term substitute, I was given my own high school Social Studies class. But my transition began as a substitute. The first morning, as I was taking attendance and watching all the students reconnecting after a long summer away from each other, I realized that education is not about the teacher; education is about the students. They are the true center! They became the center of my life.

When the first group of ninth graders entered my world history class, I held up my right hand with my thumb and forefinger about a half-inch apart and I said, “Welcome to World History; do you see this space between my fingers; this represents all I know about world history; over the course of the next few months, we will learn the rest together.” What I did not realize then, but I do now, is that I was telling my students to relax; we are learning together; you are my equal.

I did this for every new class I taught from ninth grade social studies to my last course as a college professor teaching the modern American play. To paraphrase Paul, we are all responsible for one another’s life, not just our own; we all share each other’s goodness; my life is not just me; my life includes you. My life includes all people. My life and those I affected in my teaching were blessed by my transformation.