To teach is to love

To teach is to love

It's valentine week and people across the globe celebrate the festival of love. Markets, streets and schools and colleges display the color of love in its own ways.

Among the various emotions that humans experience, love is considered the most pious. Who doesn't want to be loved? This even crosses the human species; it encompasses plants and animal kingdoms as well. There is research available which proves that plants grow faster when loved. There are several stories depicting the love bond between humans and animals. Love transcends all boundaries.

While there is a great demand for love, there is a weak supply. I think this gap leads to catastrophic results. One can explain that most human suffering is the outcome of the short supply of love. There are many ways to describe this short supply; depending on its intensity, it can be termed jealousy, envy, greed, promiscuity, war, and so on.

Why is there a short supply? 

If each one of us craves for love, we are also capable of giving love! And people who have experienced it, they know, it's more about giving and less about receiving. It's a lack of belief in the self which makes someone incapable of loving. The reality is; one can not receive love unless one knows how to give it back. 

At different stages of life, we experience different shades of love. Childhood is considered as the epitome of 'selfless love'. It is precisely because of the feeling of not being judged that an adult is happy in a child's company. All the greatest work in arts, philosophy, science and architecture are the expression of love.

Limiting this analysis to education

It's teachers who have the opportunity to be among the children in most parts of their lives. And they experience and shape how one can receive and express love. It's the love they receive from the children that binds teachers to this profession, not any other rewards.

Let's count some chief characteristics of love! What happens when we experience love?

We feel cared and protected; we experience companionship; we find someone who believes in our dreams and aspirations. And above all we find someone who always stands with us. Let transpose these features to teaching. Is it possible to teach if we don't care and protect our students? Don't we believe in the dreams and aspirations of our students? Don't we find great company in our students? And of course we stand with our students and they stand with us; to the extent that sometimes they go against their parents to stand with teachers. 

To teach is to love   

As teachers our life is full of stories of how we cared for our students and we feel elated in the achievements of our students. It's the showering of love from students that a teacher earns in his career. I think the greatest joy for a teacher is when a random person walks in and says, "Hey, sir, you taught me a long time ago, and now I'm this or that.". The sense of satisfaction and pride in the eyes of the teacher is the biggest expression of love. Teachers often share their deep concern about the future of the child, if he/she is not performing well. 

I remember a famous quote and I sincerely believe in it "Learning occurs in the intimate relationship of teacher and learners". It's not a technical act. It's deeply related to our emotion of love.