THAT SPECIAL TEACHER

We all remember a special teacher in our lives that has made a profound effect on us. The man or woman leaves an indelible impression and it never goes away. It helps shape who we are. In high school, for me it was Mr. Richard Hall, a great teacher and he seemed to touch my soul with his enthusiasm, making me love the man, and remembering him fondly, as I charted out my life before me. I even went to his funeral when he past.

But sometimes the teachers we find in life come from the most unlikely places, people we never expect to find as teachers, people that teach us and we don’t realize it until later on.

My daughter is severely handicapped, can’t speak and has great trouble communicating with people. Yet she has taught me the greatest lessons of my life. Her method is simple enough: don’t say or do anything but exist.

Yet in my past world of raising children, all the things I learned, and all the advice I had gotten, was all self-centered around my family and me. But suddenly that all changed when Ellen came along, . Not immediately at first, but as things evolved.

Ellen taught me that there are others in this world, that Ellen was a small part of the bigger problem, all those poor people who had disabilities needed advocates and voices.

But there other teachers of course, there are the dedicated people that make lives worth living for those they serve. The nurses and doctors and the dedicated day care people that dote and teach and cheer on people like Ellen. They make an obscene amount of money, the minimum wage, getting less than the hamburger flipper who would rather be pecking at his/her cell phone than caring about their job. But the day care worker pecks and cares about his/her charges, the people that they cheer on everyday, and help make the simple task we take for advantage possible for those of us less able.

God bless them. Andrew Cuomo, we need your help to raise the wages of these wonderful advocates and teachers of people like my Ellen.