Adults need heroes

by Jillian @ http://blueshelled.com . April 26, 2011 . 10:15PM

I try to be an introspective person. Generally, because of my various professions, I’m required to be more self-aware as an aspect of my job that allows me to connect with the people I talk to on another level and propel them forward in a way that helps them in life. Usually, I can do this fairly easily and yet there are still times in my life where someone reminds me, in a jaw-dropping way, that I still have a long way to go before my self-knowledge reaches that level that Maslow called self-actualization.

Over the weekend, I received an email from one of my students that made me feel both happy and sad. I’d never violate her privacy by telling you what the email said, but the gist of the email was that I’d made a decision that helped her with her faith in educators. Vague enough? Hopefully. We often do things that we never realize in a million years that other people are watching with a close eye. These aren’t the big decisions that we agonize over, either. These are small daily decisions that we either make with the bat of our eyes or that we briefly reflect upon before going on with the day and batting it away like a fly in the summer.

The decision that increased this student’s faith? It wasn’t something that I’d spent much time considering. It was an ethical decision that didn’t feel like it was a major decision at all, really, just common decency and common sense and good teaching practice. I consider myself a role model for my son. I try to model the behavior that I want these future teachers to exhibit. Beyond that, I don’t really consider my daily actions and their consequences outside of my profession as much as I probably could.

As I continued to reflect upon this email and what it said, it occurred to me that adults need someone to look up to as we go throughout our life. That need for a hero, or someone who continues to display attributes that we covet, never really goes away. We call it other things, such as mentorship, but that need for it and the approval of that person remains, especially if there wasn’t a lot of approval and support in the childhood of the person.

I don’t think that I realized that I was old enough to have this position for anyone other than my child. I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet, but I think I’m going to continue what I’m doing. It’s working for at least one of my students and I wasn’t attempting any big superhero intervention with my students in the slightest.

How are other people viewing you in the moments where you aren’t paying attention to what you are doing? Would it change how you handle yourself in those moments?