A young man meets an old man and asks him:
– Do you remember me?
And the old man says NO.
Then the young man says that he was his student.
And the teacher asks:
– What are you doing, what do you do for a living?
The young man responds:
– Well, I became a teacher.
– Oh, good, like me? – said the old man
– Yes. Actually, I became a teacher because you inspired me to be like you.
The old man, curious, asks the young man what moment inspired him to become a teacher.
And the young man tells the following story:
– One day, a friend of mine, also a student, arrived with a beautiful new watch, and I decided I wanted it for myself and I stole it, took it out of his pocket. Soon after, my friend noticed the theft and immediately complained to our teacher, who was you. So, you stopped the class and said:
– Your friend’s watch was stolen during class today. Whoever stole it, return it.
– I didn’t return it because I didn’t want to.
So you closed the door and told us all to get up and you were going to rummage through our pockets until we found the watch. But, he told us to close our eyes, because he would only look if we all had our eyes closed.
So we did, and you went from pocket to pocket, and when you got to mine, you found the watch and took it.
You kept looking for everyone’s pockets and when you said: – “Open your eyes. We already have the watch.”
You didn’t tell me anything and you never mentioned the episode. You never said who stole the watch. That day, you saved my dignity forever.
It was the most shameful day of my life.
But it was also the day my dignity was saved from becoming a thief, a bad person, etc. You never said anything to me, and even though you didn’t scold me or call my attention to give me a moral lesson, I got the message clearly.
And thanks to you, I understood that this is what a true educator should do. Do you remember that episode, professor?
And the teacher replies:
– “I remember the situation, the stolen watch, which I was looking for in everyone, but I don’t remember you, because I also closed my eyes while looking.”
