happy teacher's day

It was teacher's week. So, though late, I just stopped by to say happy teacher's day to all of my colleagues in the world. And that I hope and  

wish them the best, including the most salary and job security they can ever think of!

During the last week I'd thought about something funny and embarrassing that happened or better say I did years ago. 

 I thought it might not be bad to share it with you. So here it is:

It was years ago and I was just a student at ILI. My English wasn’t so good, I could hardly speak fluently. I remember how hard I used to  

improve my English especially by watching movies like a hundred times each and I wouldn't let it go and go for a new one unless I got sure I didn’t 

 leave anything out. Therefore, I used to take notes during the movies, and would look up the new words and phrases in the dictionary.  

There was a movie starring Jim Carry, named Me, Myself, and a female name I don’t recall. I need to confess that it wasn’t the best one that was  

ever made on the planet and that I was unlucky enough to watch.  I have to admit that the dialogues in the movie were filled with slang mostly four 

 letter words (though at that time I didn’t really know any four letter words)  

so no wonder it was severely censored.

I looked up all the words as much as I could. But there was a  word that  

 made me really confused  since I couldn’t find it in an English-Farsi dictionary and the meaning I got for it in the English-English one  was: 

 "an offensive word used to insult sb, especially a man, and to show anger"; obviously not clear enough for me to understand. Not to forget  

that I was such a lazy bone that I didn’t check the words "offensive" and "insult" so that I at least get the idea that its not a good word.  

Unfortunately the characters kept saying it over and over again so it became like a big question for me.

So I said" ok, why not asking my teacher at ILI". And guess what; fortunately or unfortunately, Master was my teacher that term.

The day arrived; it was the break time so I boldly asked:

Me: may I ask a question?

Master: yes.

Me: what's the meaning of ************? (Not my best question, I know)

Master: (staring at me with eyes wide open and asking himself: is she for real???!!) I don’t know!! I really don’t know!!

Me: (looking as stupid as I could) I heard it in a movie and the characters kept saying ************ (I can't

believe I said it again) and I couldn’t find it in the dictionary, so I was wondering…

Master: (still in doubt for my reality) I don’t know!

Me: ok. (With despair)

There was a short silence that Master dared to break: 

Master: Some words are not just worth saying them, you know.  There  was a student who said a bad word and I sent him to wash  

his mouth and he really did so. If I were you, I would never say that word again and I would go wash my mouth. (he said it so gently not to give me  

any bad feelings)

Me: sure. (A little confused)

You can't believe how embarrassed I was when I really found out what it meant.

 It's interesting how surprisingly what you did in life boomerangs on you since a couple of months ago, a student asked me the meaning of a word  

like that at ILI, too. Immediately thinking of Master and that day I answered: I don’t know!! And I thought of the important role of teachers  

and of how they act or react in different occasions. With our different attitudes we might teach them a lesson and somehow change their life in a 

 good way or we might have a bad affect on them and change their outlook of teachers in a bad way. What I asked Master was provocative  

enough to  send me to the principal's office or to give a red mark or at least a frown or a kind of facial expression to show that you didn’t like  

what was said, but since he could read from my innocence face that I really didn’t know the meaning, he just reacted and answered my  

question in the best way.  

So I think I'd better apologize him for unknowingly being so rude and thank him for the lesson he taught me. And I thank all of my teachers for  

all they did for me and all they taught me. And I also apologize for any intentional or unintentional misbehavior I ever had.

Happy teacher's week,

Narcis