What is the most important lesson you've learned from a teacher? by Joshua

What is the most important lesson you've learned from a teacher? by Joshua - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

After I graduated from high school in 2014, there was very little time to celebrate such a big life accomplishment because there were so many different situations and questions to answer about my future. The biggest question was where would I be going to college and that question did not get answered until three days before move in where I enrolled at Southwestern Community College (SWCC). Keep in mind I am from Auburn, AL and it was a huge culture shock to go from that to a little town in Creston, IA.
Throughout my first year I was miserable at SWCC and it took awhile for me to get adjusted. The second year was a total turn around. I started off my year taking one of the most popular history classes, African American History, which was taught by a man named Mr. Hughes. Mr. Hughes was a very experienced teacher and went about doing things his way and with that became one of the most influential teachers at the college. Everyone loved him because of his positive spirit and his mentor-like style that he showed students. In my second year he had taught me many lessons but a few actually stuck with me and to this day I still abide by these lessons. The lesson that really stuck with me were never judge your situation.
In life the only thing we know about is the present and the past. The future for all of us is some of the scariest things to think about because of fact that it’s like walking in the dark with no light to guide you. There is so much that is unknown and sometimes what lingers in that is the possibility of a negative outcome. Mr. Hughes always said, ”never look at things for what they are but for what they can be.” and that quote has never been so true about life. Look at it this way, when we were kids and Christmas Day had came we seemed to always gravitate to the big gifts and the big boxes that were wrapped and left the smaller ones there for last. This was because in our mind the bigger the gift box then the better the gift. The same is in life we always judge the situation by what we initially see and not really trying to become familiar with the worth of the situation. With that we are potentially missing out on something that can be so life changing and elevate us to higher levels. “We need to take a break from being superficial and only looking at the outside and start to understand the full body of work that has been given to us,” Hughes said.
In conclusion, life is always going to present things to you in different shapes and sizes. This can be from the people you meet to the opportunities that are given to you. It is our responsibility for the sake of our lives that we take time and get familiar with those things that can be presented to you before we toss it to the curb. It would not hurt to give it a chance because the saying holds true, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Yes, knowing the past and present is more comfortable than taking a leap and seeing what the future has to hold, but you cannot write history without exploring the future.