ONE child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world. Profound words of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate and female education activist.
We cannot agree more. But this Leader is not about Malala, though we are jubilant about the work she is doing to bring education to girls who often get left out.
Because if one girl gets left out of education, that much less the world changes for the better. After all, we are all children of mothers.
This editorial is, however, dedicated to teachers — male and female — who have changed us immeasurably. The tools of teachers may have changed — chalks and blackboards have given way to touchscreens — but the goal of teaching has remained the same: to make us all better human beings.
Teachers change us, in profound ways indeed, one child at a time. The world is better for it. And so is Malaysia. We could not have done it without you, teachers.
Yes, a good teacher teaches. Of quadratic equations and differential calculus. Of polar wander and quarks. Of artful swoosh of the airbrush. But more than that, he teaches us how to learn from the world around us. Of bees and trees and how plants feed themselves through photosynthesis.
And on how to live a good life. Our teachers show us how to walk softly on this piece of Earth so that we do not harm the tiny insects for they, too, have a place here. If they perish, we perish too.
Little wonder George Bernard Shaw said teaching is the sole hope of human salvation.
The wisdom of the universe is such, they remind us. Have not our teachers implored us to stay away from aggression for it vexes our spirit much and makes us bitter? The world is made of people of many hues and treat them all the same, is one lesson we recall.
Did they not tell us that this world will attempt to trick us with its sleight of hand? The times were plenty when they implored us not to fall for it? All this has made us better men and women. This we cannot deny.
But yet, so little appreciation is shown for them. Some of them are harmed even. We must learn how to take their counsel kindly.
There is great wisdom in their years. Notwithstanding the burden they bear — remember they, too, have a home to keep and children to feed — they are there in school without fail to take us by the hand and help us negotiate this, at times, troubling world of ours.
Be our fortune affected by distress or our spirit be low, our teachers are always there for us. Be gentle with them. For if they stay away from us, we will lose the shield that keeps our distress at bay.
It may not be Teachers Day yet — Malaysia celebrates Teachers Day on May 16.
This notwithstanding, Happy Teachers Day, all of you. Thank you for making us better human beings. And thanks, too, for the quadratic equations and artful swoosh.