Yesterday I learned of the death of Tina Turner. She was 83, a long life for someone in the music industry that made it to the hall of fame. Most times the lifestyle is highly demanding, stressful and obviously live stage performances are tough physically too. She was never one of my favourite singers, but learning of her death brought back memories from my early school days and washed me in emotion.
I couldn't have been very old at the time, 7 or 8 and our school teacher was a bright and cheerful, energetic and warm woman. She was younger than I am now and never wore the usual "teacher" kind of clothing. She'd come to school in tracksuits and trainers. I never saw her in a dress or a skirt. Her hair was shorter than a bob and the colour of flax. She had dimples in her cheeks that became more pronounced when she smiled, which was often. To this day, I remember her name fondly. She was a lead-from-the-front kind of woman, something that drew me to her instantly.
We had a class assignment where we were split into teams and had to come up with a team name to compete against each other in various ways. The team I was in consisted of four girls, myself, Kim, Bianca and the last girl's name escapes me. The displeasures of age I guess.
We started discussing names for our team and settled on "Simply The Best". In retrospect it wasn't the most original but hey, we were only 8. The first assignment we were given we failed at in spectacular fashion because it was some form of athletically inclined challenge, part of which was a relay race. Kim was tall and lanky with long legs and she could sprint a hundred yards without even breathing hard. I on the other hand, was the epitome of juxtaposition. My hand eye coordination was excellent, but my leg-brain coordination? Hmmm...not so much. We were so bummed about it and I blamed myself and my inability to run fast. The other teams held no captives and they mercilessly taunted us and especially my acute failure. Back in those days I was really hard on myself and being teased didn't make things any easier, but I soldiered on through the day, not returning the torts that the victors levelled at us.
It must have been obvious to our teacher as the following day she arrived at school in her usual tracksuit style outfit, but she proudly beamed at us when we noticed that her cover jacket had the words "Simply The Best" embroidered on it. The activities that day were not athletic, but intellectual and arithmetic in nature and we aced every one with cruel acuity and dogged determination. We didn't taunt our competitors, but we reveled in our teamwork and cohesion during recess.
Perhaps it was a bit of a psyop on my teacher's part, but on the other hand, perhaps it was the humanity within her that saw how the cruelty of the previous day had dented our motivation. Levelling the playing field doesn't always happen in life, but playing to the innate skills that we have, helps. We can't be a master of all in every aspect and I learned a lot more that day than just being quick on the draw in Maths24. Lessons that I have carried with me about humility, empathy, resilience, determination, motivation, appreciation, respect, courage, adaptability, discipline, self control and common decency.
My memory is not what it was ten years ago, but I will never forget my teachers, my mentors (and there have been many) that changed things within me - with small adjustments, kind words, encouragement or by simply listening and offering sage advice...to bring me closer to becoming Simply My Best.
In respectful memory of Tina Turner (1939 - 2023) and my teacher Ms Bloom🌺