Reflection / John Shaughnessy
Celebrating teachers who help us to look deeper
A college professor once gave his students an unusual quiz, consisting of 10 questions. The first nine dealt with course material. But nothing the students had studied prepared them for the 10th question: “Tell me the name of the person who comes into this room and cleans it right after this class ends.”
Every student was stumped. Day after day, for most of the semester, the students had seen the cleaning woman enter their room when their class ended. And day after day, the students paid no attention to her. They rushed from the room or talked to the professor and each other.
Some of the students protested the question. All of them thought it was unfair. When the professor collected the quiz, he shared his reasoning for the last question: “If you remember nothing else from this class, remember this: In life, you will meet people from all backgrounds, all levels of income and position. Treat everyone as important. Treat everyone with respect and dignity.”
When I learned about that story, it immediately reminded me of a college professor who taught me a valuable lesson after I had made a bone‑headed mistake. His nickname was “Black Bart,” a professor notorious for his demanding approach to studying the U.S. Constitution and his no-nonsense attitude in the classroom. So it wasn’t exactly my smartest move when I walked into his class late one morning and then did something else to disrupt the class.
Black Bart stopped talking and eyed me, a gunslinger sizing up his next victim. I shivered when he finally spoke, telling me to come to his office at an exact time later that day. The bloodshed would be handled neatly, in private, removed from the eyes of classmates who looked at me as a corpse ready to be picked to the bones by vultures.
I’ll never forget that meeting. Black Bart started by asking me what career I hoped to enter. When I told him, he talked about writers and reporters he knew. He suggested books to read, experiences to consider. I had given him ammunition to gun me down, and he turned it into an opportunity to educate me, to get to know me better. Just as amazingly, he never mentioned my transgression. Somehow, he knew it wouldn’t happen again.
His approach to my disrespect is a lesson in generosity that has stayed with me, a lesson in treating someone with respect and dignity that I have tried not to fail again.
One teacher challenges his students to see that every person they meet deserves to be noticed, to be valued. Another teacher sees past the mistake of a student and takes a deeper look at the young person, and his hopes and dreams. In both situations, the teachers don’t merely see with their eyes, they see with their hearts.
It’s the way that Christ encourages us to live our lives. Often referred to as “Teacher” in the Gospels, Jesus constantly shares lessons and asks questions that challenge us to take a deeper look at our priorities, our beliefs, our choices—what matters most to us. He does it all with the intention of guiding us to look into our hearts, to see with our hearts.
He does it all in the hope of leading us to draw closer to God and the people who become part of our lives, whether it’s the bond of a lifetime or the bond of a moment in time.
Look deeper.
(This reflection is an excerpt from John Shaughnessy’s new book, Then Something Wondrous Happened: Unlikely encounters and unexpected graces in search of a friendship with God. It is available on www.amazon.com.) †