No Thanks Necessary

So many parties, so little time.

In a rare confluence of celestial scheduling and. . . well, marketing, we suppose, today we celebrate not only National Star Wars Day--May the 4th be with you!--but also National Teacher Day.

Obviously, you all knew about the former. Equally obviously, you had no knowledge of the latter. If you had, we would scarcely be able to fight our way to a working computer through the mounds of gifts with which you would no doubt have showered us.

You all stink. Really.

Still, we've come to accept the fact that ours is a thankless task, so we remain unsurprised when no one thanks us. The Solipsist has never actually thanked his teachers, either.

Actually, that's not entirely true. At the beginning of our college career, we majored in drama. We loved acting and thought it would be great to devote our academic lives to that pursuit. After a year, though, we realized that a life in the theater wasn't for us, but we didn't know what to do. So, we went to visit one of our professors, Geri Clark, to ask her advice. She listened, she reflected, and then she told us that, if we were having such doubts, then changing majors was probably a good idea. As we left her office, though, she said, "And remember, no choice is ever really final."

We appreciated these words, an affirmation that we were doing the right thing, combined with the comforting reminder that there was nothing stopping us from choosing again if we wanted to.

Some years later, we had the opportunity to see Prof. Clark again at some alumni gathering in Manhattan. We took the opportunity to go up and thank her for her words. She was gracious, but we could tell she didn't remember us. No matter; we think she appreciated the thought.

Which, we suppose, is why we don't really care whether people thank us or not. All teachers believe--have to believe, really, or there'd be no point in doing what we do--that we make SOME difference in at least some of the lives we touch. Whatever thanks we get are nice when we get them. But we know how people feel about us regardless.