the ocean and the vast desert wastelands. A portal was opened and I discovered a path that took me to even more interesting grounds, to the realm of ideas, thoughts and insights. I did not just experience the physical world of the English peasants. I journeyed to their very hearts and minds. It was an astonishing destination. How does one conjure the magic to inspire a young mind, to coax it to explore unchartered lands? My teacher guided me there. It was a visit that would prove very memorable. This poem became a guiding light to me in adulthood, informing my values and the way I see my own world. While the moment was certainly a confluence of many factors, I credit my English literature teacher as being the major component. Today, living on a farm and running a private school for underprivileged children, looking out for the gem of purest ray and the sweet flower among them, I wonder whether that moment was a part of my destiny or whether it was the epiphany that led me to choose from several potential destinies. How does one conjure the magic to inspire a young mind, to coax it to explore unchartered lands? My teacher guided me there.
There have been other teachers who shared more personal relationships with me before and since, whose names I do remember decades after I passed through their classrooms just because I had more frequent interactions with them. At St. John’s Institute (better known hereabouts as Hua Ming) in
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