91热爆

From comedian & Writer Paul Kerensa:

On a family outing to a DIY store (we spoil our kids), we bumped into my five-year-old鈥檚 old pre-school teacher. Our boy鈥檚 at school now, but a year ago, she was his favourite teacher: laughing at his nonsense jokes (that he gets from me), 鈥済etting鈥� him, and helping him thrive as a 鈥渢hreenager鈥�. When he moved schools, she welled up, so we did too, grateful for sacrificing time and trouble. A year on though, my son didn鈥檛 recognise her. As a schoolboy now, his former favourite was forgotten.

As we grow, teachers stick in the memory through brilliance or awfulness, and perhaps most memorable are those who lead by example. I give you Mr Turner, my first headmaster. In assembly, he鈥檇 award prizes: a free chocolate from a selection box... But never the purple ones. They were his favourites, and off-limits. All purple chocolates 鈥� perhaps globally 鈥� were property of the headmaster.

When I was my son鈥檚 age, I was in Great Ormond Street Hospital, for six weeks. My classmates wrote, my teacher visited, and Mr Turner, bless him, made the five-hour round trip to wish me well. Till my last day, I鈥檒l remember: he didn鈥檛 bring grapes or any old chocolates. He brought: All. Purple. Ones.

A simple sacrifice 鈥� but such effort! This was the early eighties 鈥� long before a Wonka-like apprentice repackaged boxes of individual favourites. The only way to give an ill child thirty purple chocolates was to buy a load of tubs, and sift. Mr Turner sacrificed his favourite treat over several boxes, to show a poorly pupil how much he cared.

This teacherly example of giving up 鈥� not for oneself, for Lent, but for others 鈥� stays with me, a reminder to show others that they matter.

Jesus was a teacher, and not a 鈥渄o as I say鈥� but a 鈥渄o as I do鈥� teacher. I don鈥檛 think we need to be teachers to also be 鈥渄o as I do鈥�-ers, to show sacrificial love for others in our daily lives.

I鈥檝e seen it in Mr Turner, and in my son鈥檚 pre-school favourite 鈥� who, back in that DIY store, was unrecognised by him, but thanked by us. And if my boy digs deep in his mind, I know he鈥檇 dig deep into that selection box, and give her his favourite chocolate every time.