Dear teacher: Must go towards your ambition!

Every Sunday before November 20, our group calls each other to visit our old school - Huynh Khuong Ninh Secondary School (HCMC) - even though we are now in different places. One is a manager, one is an engineer, one opened a gym, and I am still studying and doing my PhD. We share the joys and sorrows in work and life and together visit our old school, where we have unforgettable memories.

Not just like the dawn bird

One of the memories that always makes me emotional is Ms. Giang, the principal of the school when I was in grade 9. At that time, I was among the top students in the school so the teachers paid me a little more attention. That put pressure on me. I told myself that I had to try harder than my friends to deserve that attention.

The final exam was approaching. The high schools appeared clearly in my dreams. Among them, Gia Dinh High School was my first choice. At that time, I liked Gia Dinh High School because I admired the reputation of the gentle and talented principal, Ms. Cuc, but the entrance score was extremely high, almost equal to that of Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted. Therefore, I was a bit scared. Luckily, Ms. Giang said: "I have a fun formula like this, take the total score of 3 subjects: math, literature, English (with coefficient) minus 6, as the key score to choose a school. I think with all 3 schools, your chances of passing are very high. You can boldly choose any school you like." Thanks to that, I had enough courage to choose Gia Dinh High School.

Người thầy kính yêu: Nhất định phải đi tới hoài bão của mình! - Ảnh 1. — Ms. Giang (wearing glasses) with her colleagues. (Photo provided by the character)

The pressure of exams was getting heavier and heavier. But there was another pressure that I tried to hide from everyone: every night, my parents' conversations became more and more tense. Although both my parents tried to "turn the volume" down to the lowest level so that my sister and I could not hear, their facial expressions could not be hidden from my sister and me. One day, my sister asked: "Sister Linh, if Mom and Dad divorce, who will we live with?". I burst into tears: "I don't know either. I can only pray that it doesn't happen"...

But it still happened. I thought that after returning home from the court, I would curl up in a corner and cry loudly to relieve my anger. Why was God so unfair to me? The exams were coming too soon. But somehow I didn’t cry. Not a single tear. Something was pushing them away. I had to fight. I couldn’t fall.

The next day, while my friends were taking a nap, I tossed and turned and was afraid of disturbing them so I went outside. The school yard was hot and stuffy. Ms. Giang had just come back from somewhere and said: "It's too hot to sleep. Come lie down in my room to cool off." (All the classes have air conditioners, but at the beginning of the year, Ms. Giang advised parents not to install them for grade 9 because they only had 1 year left. Trying to save money was unreasonable.) I went in and sat on the sofa. She said: "You lie there, I'll wake you up later to study. Why do you look so sad?" "My parents are divorced, teacher" - I replied.

She was silent for a moment. All the resentment I had been holding back since yesterday poured out to her. Words, sobs, and tears mixed together into a story that I’m not sure she understood. But she understood, her eyes looking at me were full of sympathy and affection.

She was silent for a long time before speaking as if she had to choose her words carefully: "Your parents are both highly educated and knowledgeable people. There must be a very important reason for them to make such a decision. But I'm worried about you. There's not much time left for the exam. Do you think you have enough determination and endurance to overcome adversity and reach your ambition?" I answered like a soldier in the summer military school: "I will overcome it. I cannot give up. I promise!"

Then I wiped my tears and expressed my determination: "I have to go back to class. If my studies decline, Dad will have an additional burden. I know, Dad is also very unbalanced."

Then the cruel exam came. I passed the standard by 4 points. I fought against the odds and won.

The day I represented the 9th grade students to read the farewell speech to the school, I suddenly took my eyes off the paper, looked down at where Ms. Giang was sitting and suddenly exclaimed: "My friends! The life of a student at Huynh Khuong Ninh School is not just like a bird at dawn. We also have adversities. Some of you speak out. Some of you don't. But we must overcome them. We must dare to let go to reach our ambitions." The whole schoolyard clapped loudly. That sentence was completely not on the paper that my group of friends and I had prepared in advance.

Connecting knowledge and love

Dad said: "Now that you've finished school, I want to buy Ms. Giang a gift. What do you think it should be?". I said: "Everyone says Ms. Giang doesn't accept gifts, she only likes flowers, Dad." Dad hesitated a bit and then said: "I'll give Ms. Giang a word, what do you think it is?". "Heart" - I blurted out even though I hadn't thought of it.

Unexpectedly, on the day her father brought the frame with the word "Heart" to give her, he saw on the wall she hung the word "Patience" written exactly in the same form as her father's word "Heart". Seeing her father confused, she couldn't smile more brightly: "It's okay, brother. I will hang your word "Heart" behind me, opposite the other word."

Now she is no longer the principal of Huynh Khuong Ninh School. She moved to become the head of the Department of Education of District 1 (old), Ho Chi Minh City, and then became the principal of another school. But I still want her to be the principal of my school - Huynh Khuong Ninh School, where there is also a homeroom teacher named Thanh who assigned me to be the class monitor and said: "You can do it for a few days and I will arrange things" but in the end I did it for all 4 years of middle school. There is Ms. Thuy who cut my short hair, now still diligently cycling up the mountain, making me yearn to live closer to nature. There is Ms. Mai, famous with the nickname "Colored Pencil" on Facebook, who advised me: "If you want to go to Gia Dinh, you should register for the literature exam as well, as an extra chance to pass the entrance exam to that school"... Those soul engineers have carried us across the river and returned on other trips. But in our hearts, memories of them remain forever as timeless memories, a place to store values of love, morality and soul passed down from generation to generation.

Now, in just a little while, I will defend my doctoral thesis. Then I will also stand on the lecture hall, and will also ferry my students across the river. I will try and will definitely be able to do like Ms. Giang and other teachers - to connect knowledge into the brains of children with love and the same vibration of the soul frequency. And isn’t that the most noble thing that the education sector can contribute to this life?!

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nguoi-thay-kinh-yeu-nhat-dinh-phai-di-toi-hoai-bao-cua-minh-196251130204931881.htm