Important People:
When I first walked into my tenth grade English class, my teacher, (Teacher’s Name), said, “In this class we are looking for one thing—Truth with a big “T”. Most of us are familiar with truth with a little “t”, but we’re on the search for something bigger.” I was only 15 and it didn’t make much sense to me then, but I never forgot it. Now, I realize just how much (Teacher’s name) really taught me.
The biggest impact he had on me, however, was with his daily lectures about Truth with a capital “T” versus truth with a lowercase “t.” I enjoyed reading comic books and some other action-packed books, but he kept explaining that he was talking about something different. One day after class I went up to (Teacher’s Name) and asked him a question:
His eyes lit up and he said, “Ah, my young friend, Shakespeare is certainly one of the finest artists of all time and Truth is evident in everything he does! Each word! Heck, each syllable!”
I thought he was a little bit crazy, but this making me feel uncomfortable. “Ok,” I said, “So Macbeth is really going to go through with it. And that is Truth?”
He laughed at me and said, “Ah, that is truth with a little “t,” but a nice observation. I’m talking about motivation. I’m talking about human emotions. I’m talking about life and faith! Only through these things can we get close to the other truth.” He smiled, knowing I wasn’t ready for the discussion. “We’ll talk more tomorrow, ok?”
I left the conversation still stumped about what he had said and even more confused about Shakespeare. I carried along as many other high school students did—I spent most of my time hanging with friends and goofing around. I didn’t pay much attention to any class until it was time to pick colleges, and even then I was only slightly interested.
When I think back, I must have missed out on a lot of important lessons in life. I had fun, of course, but I think more about things now, and that Truth with a big “T” always comes to mind. Even though most of what (Teacher’s Name) taught me slipped my mind for quite a long time, he was still my favorite teacher, and I will always remember his crazy idea about Truth with a big “T” and truth with a little “t”. And now that I’m in college, I find that I’m much more interested the actual learning process. I now understand a bit more about what Truth with a big “T” really means. I am very grateful that my teacher introduced these things to me so early even though I’m sure he knew none of us would know what he meant. He just knew that it was important to him, and he was okay with being himself. More than anything, (Teacher’s Name) taught how important it is to just be yourself. This is why he is one of the most important people I’ve ever met.
