I am but part of a village

on others’ shoulders

for the last two years

one student, in particular,

has been able to use my classes

to find himself,

to believe in himself,

to assert himself upon the world

as a strong reader and writer,

as a strong person,

as a will that will move forward,

despite the overwhelming pull of the social for him,

for two years I have been singing his praises,

I have been seeing him as the best in how he sees himself,

and what I see is what I have gotten,

then I hear the story of how

my wife taught him as a 6 and as a 7 year old,

when he felt himself blundering in the thickets

that can beset the best of us,

those thickets that somehow empower the lesser,

she saw him and she saw paths out of the thicket,

she saw how to help him find those paths,

and he did it,

Isaac Newton is credited with a quote

acknowledging that he could go far

and that he should credit the giants who came before him

and on whose shoulders he could stand,

as a middle school teacher, I love to celebrate how far forward

my students are able to go while in my view,

how much better,

how much closer to the truth,

it is to acknowledge and honor

the great teachers before us

who helped the students lay their foundations

upon which we later teachers can help build toward the sky,

and, even more important,

we should honor the person before us

who works hard to see herself/himself truly,

and to express truly the best of who each is.

by Henry H. Walker

June 2, ‘17