A Lesson Learned by Megan

A Lesson Learned by Megan - April 2013 Scholarship Essay

 
Sitting at the kitchen table in the dim evening light, I mentally sort through the many files I have accumulated within the past 25 years. On a single yellow legal sized pad I take note of the ones I believe to be of most importance for the task at hand.  Who would have ever thought that determining my favorite school subject would prove to be so difficult? In my younger years I based my favorite subjects on my favorite educators. The ones that made learning interesting and fun, as I got older I was especially fond of the ones that made me stop and really just think.
 
While sorting, I happen to come across my file for 11th grade English Literature with Mr. Z; I take a moment to look back and remember his teachings. Mr. Z  was a short older man with a grey goatee that slightly resembled a garden gnome, with the shiniest bald head I have ever seen. I never understood why so many students loved him as a teacher. He didn’t appear to be anything special. In fact I found him to be quite rude throughout the previous years during lunch as he monitored the halls. Besides, he taught English which was not my subject of choice by any means. I didn’t like all the reading and writing not to mention I wasn’t all that great at it.  However, that year English and Mr. Z were changed in my eyes forever. Not because all of a sudden I found it to be easy or because I found some new passion for reading and writing, but because I was infused with the meaning of a seven-letter word that altered my life in its entirety; that word is empathy. Learning and understanding how to put myself in someone else’s shoes was a huge turning point in my life; being able to not only identify what characters were thinking, but also with what they were feeling drastically helped form me into who I am today. Understanding someone else’s emotions is not always easy but it is a lesson that I have kept with me ever since that 11th grade English class. As a result of those lessons, I have become better at writing and reading; more importantly I have become a better person. Also, identifying with others is easier these days and I look forward to any English or Literature class that can help develop and refine these skills. For this reason english is my favorite subject in school.