Do What One Loves and Love What One Does by Stephanie

Do What One Loves and Love What One Does by Stephanie - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

He spoke with wisdom and authority, this man who woke up to the anticipation of student's laughter and controversial conversation every day for decades on end. He loved nothing more than to spread knowledge to the young generations who sat in front of him, never missing a day in those sixty-some years he taught. He claimed that life was too short to miss out on what all it had to offer.

Sitting in the front row of his every class, I began reading his emotions and body language; he wore his exhaustion in his shoulders as they drooped over like a warped flower; he wore worry on his forehead in the aged wrinkles that expressed his concern for his wife and family; he wore his disease in his shaky hands and fatigued body. With the many potential defeats his body gave away, he never gave up the fight to share what he had to say. His smile symbolized hope; his eyes expressed encouragement; and his words spoke of joy. His hope was for what was to come; his encouragement was for the students that watched him deteriorate away but still managed to show up each and every day; and his words spoke of worship for his savior and passion in ways that I cannot explain.

The only way to explain the wisdom in his lessons is to label it, cancer. He not only taught what was meant for the classroom with his words, but he taught many valuable life lessons with his actions. Cancer did not defeat him, even in his passing. He confronted and maintained the potentially life sucking disease, proving that anything can and will only defeat a person if they allow it - in which he did not. He taught through lectures that revolved around his family, expressing and combining his two loves and passions.

The day came that he passed, sooner than he expected. The doctors had estimated the possibility of his ascending to any moment. He always claimed that life was too short to miss out on what it had to offer, so instead of retiring and spending time with what most people think of as their most important possession, he spent his very long days with what lit his soul on fire, a mixture of his family and his students. His wife would visit his classes from time to time and share with us how from the moment he woke up to the moment he fell asleep at night, he was all about his students. He gave every ounce of energy to share his wisdom and knowledge until he no longer had anymore left to give. This is the lesson he taught me; love what you do because when your time comes to move on, you do not want to waste your energy on regret but, rather, enjoy spending countless amounts of time and energy with what sets your soul on fire because that is the only way to fulfill a person more than anything else ever could. Do what one loves and love what one does.

Thank you Dr. Billy Lewter for your time, encouragement, and support.