He Makes A Difference

This has been a hard week for Steve.
Anxiety, sadness, disappointment, anger, tears, frustration, love, support that is so heartwarming it's heartbreaking.....it's all been a blur of many emotions over the last 5 days that have crashed together from all different directions and many different people and snowballed themselves through this week.

Last night at graduation, I stood back after the ceremony and I watched my husband. And I watched students flocking to be near him, to laugh with him. I saw past graduates wait in the wings for their turn to talk with him, to tell him their stories, to share their life with him. I saw parent after parent come up, put their arm around him, speak sincerely to him.

The students of all kinds - the "outcasts" love him because he talks to them, invests in them, makes a point of getting inside their world. The fact that this teacher so obviously cares for them and loves them sincerely for who they are matters so significantly to them that you can see their appreciation for this man all over their faces. I see them pull out their phones and type in each other's cell phone numbers. Their phones no doubt scarce with contact numbers of friends, his full of the names and numbers of students of whom he's invested in.

The athletes stop by and say hey, tell him they'll miss him, give him hugs. He tells each one that if they ever need anything to call him. And he means it.

The "cool kids" come by one by one, or in their groups to give him hugs and tell him how much they'll miss him. He takes time to speak to each one genuinely - to tell them they did a great job on their speech, or poke fun at them, or laugh over an inside joke. His charisma spans social groups and personalities. He is loved by all.

And then I watch as parent after parent comes by - astonished that he is leaving, shaking their heads in disbelief and sadness. Three of them cry.

Each graduate makes it a point to seek him out and say goodbye. We are some of the last to leave.

He is a rare breed - this man who honestly and whole-heartedly invests in the lives of his students. This teacher who gives of himself completely and yearns to be a part of their story. Who meets them for lunch and buys them coffee and speaks to them in the hallway and sits at their lunch tables. Who challenges them spiritually and as leaders and as athletes and as human beings.
He has truly made a difference, and there aren't very many people who can say that.

And to the people at SCA who brought about these events: You are damn fools for letting him go.