OF CHALKS AND BLACKBOARDS

"I am not a teacher trying to be your friend.

 I am a friend teaching you."

Becoming a professor was not a path I originally intended to pursue. The farthest I came to becoming a teacher was having a record book back when I was about nine. The book had imaginary students' names and their lists of grades - of course, the ones bearing my surname or a close semblance to it, i.e. Gonzalez, Gonzan, had the highest grades. The imaginary classroom never became reality. Or so I thought.

God, in His mysterious ways, intervened. When one of my professors in my masters program read the Answering The Call article I wrote for The LaSallian, she asked me if I was interested to teach in the University. I gave a quick yes as a response.

That yes was an answered prayer for my childhood dream. Today, teaching has become a platform for me to share not only the how to's and formulas of accounting but it has likewise become a means for me to inspire the younger generation to pursue their passion, to do what they love, to become what they really want to be.

Later on, they may eventually forget the lessons I have written on the chalkboard. God forbid, they might even forget my name. 

But the important thing is that they remember what I have taught them - the value of pursuing their own consolations, the triumph of taking risks.

And sure enough, when they eventually become their versions of walking billboards of success, a little part of them may say - "Ah, so this is what my weird professor told me about, that accounting prof with that crazy mohawk who told us to follow what makes us happy." In that, I find my own spark of happiness.