A three hour, mid-year practice test
being grudgingly endured
by a rag-tag collection
of struggling students
suffering from various degrees
of anger and apathy.
It’s an effort for everyone in the room
to stay awake.
But then,
just outside my window,
the gentle and eerily warm December breeze
whispering its way through
the ancient, oak-shaded courtyard
triggers the ever-so-soft tinkling
of a delicate chime,
and, in an instant,
an image of Gloria’s smiling face
comes to my mind.
And I remember
that hers was the first smile
to greet me
when I walked, tentatively,
and hopefully,
through the doors of this school
for the first time
more than seven years ago.
And that smile reassured me
that I had come to the right place,
after all.
A place where I might be needed
and where I needed to be.
It doesn’t matter how many years
of experience a teacher may have.
When one starts a new position
in a new school,
he is a new teacher all over again.
So I quickly came to know
that Gloria was the one to ask
when I needed help or advice.
She was meticulously professional
in everything she did.
Always working to bring goodness,
and positive feelings,
and hope
to a place that shelters hundreds
upon hundreds
of children who come to us
with backgrounds of despair and discouragement.
She even brought in a feng shui expert,
every year,
to advise us on how to improve
the flow of chi in our classrooms
in the hope that it would bring us luck
and good fortune
in everything we attempted to achieve each day.
Over the years her role changed
whether she wanted it to or not,
but she tackled each new challenge
with the same tenacity,
and the same love,
and the same smile,
until she felt the time had come
for her to leave.
Now the ever-so-soft tinkling
of the chimes in the courtyard
brings me back to the reality
of my rag-tag collection of students
struggling though the test.
But I remember Gloria
and what she was to this campus.
I think
it was she who was
our feng shui,
our wind and water,
for so long,
whether she knew it or not.
And the void that was left
when she moved on
will not be easily filled.
Her imprint on this place
is too big
and too deep.
And it will remain
like the ancient bricks and mortar
of the old building,
part of the foundation
on which the future will rest.
