seeing all students truly

 dispensable

I long ago wrote that a goal of a teacher

should be to make yourself dispensable:

like a crutch that can be discarded,

like a meal that is only a means, not an end,

like a hand up and then you're on your way,

many of my former students I saw clearly to their heart,

I could see behind their eyes who they were

when they let themselves out,

that part of them struggling to break free into the Light,

other students I loved just as deeply,

but I could not see them as clearly,

and I did not know them as truly,

it is tragic when any student

can not see themselves truly,

to me, it is amazing

when such a student perseveres

into finding their way forward,

the credit for such progress is all to them,

a seed can find itself on challenging ground

and it still reaches toward the sky,

such a transcendence deserves to be seen and celebrated

for the power of its rising comes because it is true to itself,

and to the possibilities only it can be sure to know,

true to the choices it makes every day

to live the best life that can open itself unto the world.

by Henry H. Walker

May 6, ‘26