"Don't want leh?"

Thankless Job.

It may not be September 1st, but that never stops anyone from celebrating the well remembered Teachers' Day. Note the apostrophe after the letter "s" guys, that's the way it's meant to be spelled. Yes, after a quick 12 months, teacher's day is back all over again, cards, costumes and all.

I'd never really looked forward to Teachers' Day, nor have I ever thought of it as something memorable, but then again all that wasn't meant for a student in the first place. So once again, I had thought that it was simply a matter of enduring the performances and activities before finally being able to leave, just like last year.

But no. Not this year. After being a Student Councillor, life never looks the same anymore. Beyond the pointless games, the horrible singers, the technical-problem-plagued perfomances always lie something that we should all learn, something that we all overlook. Well maybe not for the horrible singers (Yes, the band who played Move Along today. I'm looking at you. I used to like that song.)

From the morning the whole thing was pretty hectic, what with not being sure when to pass the gifts to the chairpersons and all, but stole some time to return to my classroom and finally see Xue Xun for the first time in weeks.

The concert was... what you can expect of a concert for a secondary school, I guess.

But there was something that struck me quite abruptly right before the concert started. I had the job of "security guard" at the entrance of the hall, and was asking if some of the teachers could "kindly move to the other entrance when they enter so that this one wouldn't be too congested". Mr Noel Yap, who was nearby, jokingly mentioned the words "Don't want leh?", and gave that trademark smile he had.

Yes, he was joking, but that comment had given me quite a revelation. Normally, those three words would only be uttered by uncooperative students who never saw the reason to listen to instructions. Instructions of the teachers. After all, who likes to be told what to do? Yet now I was the "teacher" giving the "students" instructions, and if the "students" put their feet down and refused to move, what am I, the "teacher", ever going to do?

Teaching, such a thankless job.

We all know of teachers that influenced us greatly in our lives. I've already mentioned a few in my New Year Eve post last year, and do have many more that I can include in my next. But all of them, good or bad, humanities or science, language or maths, have been the potters moulding our lives and our futures in school, whether we like it or not. Some prefer to completely take our shape and mould it the way they see fit, while others think that we only need a little bit of shaping to bring out our potentially. In any case, they are all aiming to see us end up as a highly valued product.

Thank you, teachers.