We Are All Teachers

   There are certain sites on the internet that I go to when I sit down each morning to have some quiet time before my day begins in earnest. I go to them for inspiration, from a desire to see what God has for me in this new day, and to open my mind and heart to His leading.

   Some days, I read all of the above and find that my mind has not grasped anything that I can pin down and say "this is it". On those days, like today, my "rabbit trail" wandering takes over and I follow other links that I notice on these web pages. It is not desperation that drives me on, I just want to feel that there is something here for me, and I want to keep on going till I find it. Of course, having a lot of time to actually do this, is helpful.

   Often a thought from some obscure site catches my eye and mind. Sometimes that thought leads me  back to other things in my life that I associate with it. Things that I have seen or experienced over the past days seem to blend in with a new thought and bring meaning to it.

   Since I have been a teacher for a few years in my life, the site I found this morning was more than just a little interesting. The author was bemoaning the fact that, although our students learn so many facts and stuff, they miss the real education of life, that they are taught how to be lawyers, and doctors and business people, but they are not taught how to be good. They may be able to pass a test on history, but not be aware of how character plays such a leading role in who and what those historical people are.

   I thought about some of the areas we visited on our trip this time, across Georgia and on up to Chattanooga. This plaque at Jefferson, in Jackson County, like those on other courthouse lawns across this state, speaks of individuals who were pioneers, either in settling the area, or famous for pioneering efforts in other venues there.

   These were real people, ones who came there, lived there and made their mark in some way on the others around them on in their community. They were examples of others who made the same trek, were subject to the same hardships, and lived to settle that area. No doubt there were others who made their mark in a negative way also. All were part of the life in that new spot.

   In the same way as those early people, we are all people of character. What we say is not nearly as important as what we do, and who we really are.

   I don't know about these men pointed out on this sign. All of them lived here way back when. I suppose they had families, children who grew up there and became preachers and teachers and judges and mothers and fathers and who shaped the lives of those who came after, all the way to this present day.

   Book learning was passed down, and a lot of what was passed down in that way, has been invalidated by new revelations, but the character of the generations that followed endure, for good or ill.

   Let me be one whose character for good is not just passed down by word of mouth, but shown in the way it is lived out.