Something To Smile About

 

 

Today, within the space of a couple of hours I was the recipient of a pecan pie (which I somehow refused despite the fact it looked delicious, so technically I wasn't exactly a recipient - more of a would-be recipient), a sort of two-dimensional model of a teacher accompanied by a battery which lights up the teacher where his heart should be, and a little notebook all the way from Granada in Spain. Two of the items are pictured above. All were gifts from folks at work - colleagues and students (or ex-students in the case of the battery-driven pedagogue. Actually I think they gave out quite a number of these devices to a wide variety of teachers, which just goes to emphasise the sense of giving involved.) Now I'm not saying this was a typical couple of hours, but I would venture to say that the generosity on display is typical of what goes on in my workplace. And I'm grateful for it - not because I need any of this stuff, but because it makes me smile.

(And in case any of my students happen to be reading this, please don't interpret the above as a particularly clever covert plea for more stuff. I don't need it. Your full attention is more than enough to ask for, and I'd like to assume I'm getting that.)