This morning one of my friends on Face Book or some place made the statement to me"You are appreciated." My wrinkled brow wrinkled more than ever and I began to think about appreciation. I know what my friend was referring to but it still caught me by surprise. It was a powerful little statement.
So I spent all day thinking about appreciation. I even looked the word up in the dictionary. So I was recognized with gratitude for support in a difficult situation.
For me appreciation always seems to be the other way around. I appreciate being able to help others or to support them when they need support. I guess it comes from my experience as a teacher where I was helping others. To see kids succeed was always a very positive experience. I was proud so see the progress kids would make.
I liked to teach modified classes. This means I would be given a dozen kids in a class who had various challenges. Some were behaviour problems. Some had learning disabilities. Some had a lack of ability. It was not the way to group kids but it separated kids from regular classes where they would be harassed. One guy I will never forget. He was grade nine and only knew times tables to five and could only divide with one place divisors. Achievement was slow. He talked about remote controlled bombs which worried me about his future. When he did make progress his eyes always lit up. He really wanted to learn. Today he has a company worth over 800 000 000 dollars. He used his remote control idea. He developed a system to control remote gas wells using computers of course. This guy has always stuck in my mind. I really appreciate what he has accomplished because of the limited skills he had.
So for me appreciation has always been from my end. It was a shock today to be told I was appreciated. Many times we appreciate things and do not say so. This was a good lesson for me today. It's good to just plainly say to people "You are appreciated."
