On Thursday, May 29, 2007, I heard this from my art teacher…
While I colored my picture of a lei with colored pencils last Thursday in art class, Mr. Stein started talking about height with Luke, one of the shortest students in class. I heard Mr. Stein ask Luke how tall he was now, and the student replied, “I’m 5’2.”
“Really?” asked Mr. Stein. “That’s how tall I was when I was your age.” He chuckled a bit before turning to the student teacher. “Y’know I thought I was done growing, but I grew just before my senior year. I may have never reached six foot, but I am happy with my height.” There was a pause before he thought of more to add to the conversation. “My brother was about 6’2 when he was that age. I bet he would have grown to be very tall.”
“Oh really?” asked the student teacher, throwing in some small feedback.
“Yeah, if it wasn’t for the drunk driver…” Mr. Stein looked up from the desk he was staring at and glanced into the student teacher’s eyes. “He was killed in a car crash when he was sixteen.”
There was a long pause of silence as the student teacher thought over what to say. “Oh, I am so sorry.”
“Yeah, he was so tall, but I never got that tall. You may still grow, Luke,” he said with a cheerful personality. “Wow, 5’2.”
The conversation had begun abruptly and had ended abruptly, but it allowed me to find out more about Mr. Stein. I enjoy finding out about people, and this time, I again, started thinking deeply upon hearing this fact. Just like the quiet person from my science class, Mr. Stein had lost his brother in a car accident with a drunk driver. I was shocked to find that two people that I knew had the same shocking experience. What a coincidence!
If anybody just looked at Mr. Stein, they would never know the loss of a family member that he had for he is always cheerful and exuberant. The two people took different approaches to the same tragedy, however my art teacher is a lot older than my classmate. I am still speechless as to what to say to this newfound knowledge.
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Yeah, I thought it ws omeone who died. Lol.
I think many students would be surprised by the secrets that teachers have about their personal lives. We don’t let you all know our personal stuff… I know a handful of other things about Mr. Stein that you probably don’t know. And I bet that people don’t really know that much about me… 😉
Nice little piece, by the way. Just the right length.
Great job. You showed the conversation perfectly and did not belabor the point. Nice reflection at the end which allows your reader to reflect in his/her own way. We never know when a stray word or phrase will be meaningful to another. Everyone has a story to tell, a joy, a horror. Life is about discovering this. See, you made me reflect in my own way!
Really? I thought it was too short and ended abruptly.