With the kind of person that I am, it is quite difficult for me to pinpoint a particular person and say I feel they are heroes. There are people of course who have done things that were of great service to humanity, even people who dedicated their lives just to make sure everyone gets the best standard of living. No doubt, the history books are filled up with such people and more of them keep coming up each day. We hear about them all over the news, even though we have fewer of them these days. But they are still very much in play. Well, my personal heroes are my parents. They really went through a lot to make me the man I am today. I know the sacrifices my Mom had to make just to give my siblings and I the life we had, and for that alone, she is the greatest heroine in the world of heroines. But I would not be talking about my parents today, today’s post will be dedicated to someone that is not even related to me but changed my life totally. And this person is my former Math teacher from my senior secondary school days. I can’t really remember his name, but he was a pastor and we used to call him Pastor Paul. Although I still vividly remember what he looked like then, I can no longer recollect what his surname was. This man was one of the best teachers I ever had. He took his job as a teacher seriously. One thing I have noticed is that there are people that were born to be teachers, they have the patience and dedication to handle children and teenagers. When they impact knowledge, they ensure that it sinks in properly. And when they dish out punishments, they know just what will work best to make the person change. Every other person that becomes a teacher especially in this my country Nigeria does so because there are no other jobs to go to. This man was definitely called to be a teacher just as he was called to work in the vineyard of the Lord. He was the one that made me understand Maths totally. Back then, my favorite subjects were Physics and Technical Drawing, but for some reason, I just did not like math. The only topics in Maths I enjoyed were algebra and indices. Once we got to the tougher parts, things started getting sketchy and too shady for me. This man would take his time to teach us, making sure he carries everyone along, he would even crack jokes and use real-life situations to explain the complex formulas in the equations, making it all so easy to understand. And sometimes, when we still do not understand and his period lapses for the day, he would offer to remain with us after school to continue the lecture. And we would be there until every single person understands. He made classes fun, students were free to ask questions; no matter how dumb they would be he was always willing to answer. When we started preparing for our final exams, he even offered to give us tutorials. In the morning before the assembly, in the evening after closing hours every day, and also on Saturday as well. This was for a token fee, something around a hundred naira or thereabout, I can no longer recall. Although it was not always roses and peaches with him, he could be really strict when we messed up. He knew inventive ways to punish defaulters and he never hesitated to use them when he felt they were needed. But then, after everything he was doing for us, the punishments were usually taken without qualms. What that man did for us cannot be quantified and I have no idea how to repay him. I know it was not just me he touched, he touched my entire set. And then the ones before mine and then those after mine as well. I am sure all these people have similar news they are sharing about this man and what he has done. He deserves every blessing given to him because it is not easy to suffer yourself so that the children of others will prosper. It takes a different kind of breed for that. I used to have him on Facebook, but he has not really been active and even I have not really been chatty right from time. And the last time I heard about him, he was the Principal of the Junior Secondary School. That was a great promotion indeed. I hope that by now he is now the principal of the senior and hopefully move on into a position where he can transform multiple schools at the same time. I can just imagine the number of lives that would be changed. As I said, there are people who are called to be teachers. You would know them from the way they do their job and how seriously they take it. This man is one of them, and I hope God gives him a long life to reap the fruits of his labor. Because as far as my math knowledge is concerned, he is my hero. Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post. This post is inspired by the first topic of this week which is A Real Life Hero. Feel free to try it out, it's fun!
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Max Fischer
Max Fischer
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No Cape For This Hero!
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