Mrs. Fisher's lesson by Madison

Mrs. Fisher's lesson by Madison - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The first thing I noticed about my tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Fisher, was she had a very bizarre fashion sense. I'd never seen anything like it. She'd wear polka dot dresses over bright colored pants with equally as bright heels or floral wedges. Originally I thought her unique fashion sense was entertaining, and began to look forward to seeing what crazy clothing combination she'd come up with each day. Little did I know something as small as her clothing would soon become the most important lesson I would ever learn from a teacher.

My parents raised me to be Catholic. We'd never been huge on religion, only going to church occasionally on holidays such as Easter or Christmas. While I never knew much about the bible or Christian morals, I just accepted that I was Catholic, even though I didn't agree with or believe in most of what I did know. Although it wasn't part of the curriculum, Mrs. Fisher assigned us to read the book Demian by Hermann Hesse, claiming reading it had changed her life. The book intrigued me from the minute Demian was introduced, sharing his version of the mark of Cain. Along with the reading, I was assigned a research project on the philosophy of Fredrich Nietzsche. Throughout my research I began to see a pattern. Nietzsche, like myself, had questions and doubts regarding Christian beliefs. His ideas and beliefs led me to consider my own beliefs, entering a territory that once terrified me so much. I eventually began to accept the fact that, regardless of how I'd be raised, I was not catholic, nor was I atheist, but I was agonistic. Initially, her claims of the book changing her life seemed like an overstatement, until it changed mine.

Mrs. Fisher taught me many things throughout my tenth grade year, from reading Shakespeare to how to write a SOAPStone, but the most important one she'd taught me was one she'd taught me unconsciously. Through her adventurous wardrobe and her life changing books, I learned that being myself wasn't a bad thing, whether it be wearing an outfit that was a little out there to straying from the religious beliefs of my family and friends. My whole life adults always told me that I should always be myself, but up until I met Mrs. Fisher I'd never believed it. While she'd never told me flat out, she'd told me through her actions. And that made all the difference.