Good teachers are the ones who can challenge young minds without losing their own
MyGuru
Teachers’ Day Special
We have been celebrating Teachers’ Day since childhood to honour our teachers and show our gratitude towards them. Teachers lay the foundation stone for a student’s future. They show them the way to become a successful and responsible citizen. Here are some famous personalities who have attributed their success to their teacher/mentors, be it Mahatma Gandhi or Helen Keller. For them their teacher was someone who who gave them purpose of life.
ANNE SULLIVAN (Helen Keller’s teacher)
History recalls Anne Sullivan as the best teacher who changed the life of a young, blind, deaf and mute Hellen Keller and taught her to communicate.
Keller, who was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer had this to say about her teacher:
“The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old.”
Together we went through Radcliffe College. Day after day during four years she sat beside me in the lecture halls and spelt into my hand word by word what the professors said, and nearly all the books she read to me in the same way.
Yet when I received my degree from Radcliffe, not a word of recognition was given to her! The pain caused me by that indifference or thoughtlessness is still a thorn in my memory. So nothing in our experience has made me happier than your splendid tribute to her and your earnest desire to honour her also with a degree. That she should refuse to stand with me this day is a grief to me, but her refusal is consistent with her attitude throughout the years we have been together. She has closed every door to any recognition that would emphasize her individuality. I can only bow my head and repeat my thanks to you for your beautiful thought of us both.
SHRIMAD RAJACHANDRA (Mahatma Gandhi’s mentor)
Let’s read what Gandhi, the father of the nation had Said about his mentor Shrimad Rajachandra
“Three moderns have left a deep impression on my life and captivated me: Rajchandbhai by his living contact; Tolstoy by his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You; and Ruskin by his Unto This Last.
He was a connoisseur of pearls and diamonds. No knotty business problem was too difficult for him. But all these things were not the centre around which his life revolved. That centre was the passion to see God face to face. I have since met many religious leaders or teachers. I have tried to meet the heads of various faiths, and I must say that no one else has ever made on me the impression that Raychandbhai did. His words went straight home to me. In my moments of spiritual crisis, therefore, he was my refuge. Though I could not place Raychandbhai on the throne of my heart as Guru he was, on many occasions, my guide and helper. Three moderns have left a deep impression on my life, and captivated me: Raychandbhai by his living contact; [Leo] Tolstoy by his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You; and [John] Ruskin by his Unto This Last.”
MAYA ANGELOU (Ophrah Winfrey’s mentor)
Yes, you read it correct the first time! Even Ophrah had a mentor.
“Maya [Angelou] used to say to me, ‘When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.’ She said, ‘Babe, your problem is you have to be shown 29 times,’
“So, I see a lot of people who have to be shown 29 times, who have a lack of discernment for things that appear to be obvious,” she told the magazine. “Character is very much a defining matter in everything that you do.”
“One of my greatest wisdom teachings is to assess from people’s behaviours, their actions not just towards me but to other people who they are and how they behave,”
“When I first met Maya, in the ’70s, I couldn’t have guessed what the next few decades would bring or that she would be there for me every step of the way, a wise, loving presence and the greatest mentor I’ve ever known,” Winfrey said.
STEVE JOBS (Mark Zuckerberg’s mentor)
Mark Zuckerberg, a billionaire and owner of the world’s biggest social media platform was mentored by another billionaire Steve Jobs, founder of Apple.
“Early on in our history when things weren’t really going well–we had hit a tough patch and a lot of people wanted to buy Facebook–I went and I met with Steve Jobs, and he said that to reconnect with what I believed was the mission of the company, I should go visit this temple in India that he had gone to early in the evolution of Apple when he was thinking about what he wanted his vision of the future to be”.
WARREN BUFFET (Bill Gate’s mentor)
World’s richest man, Bill Gates admits that over the years he has always taken Warren Buffett on various subjects and referred to him as one-of-a-kind.
“You will move in the direction of the people that you associate with. So it’s important to associate with people that are better than yourself. The friends you have will form you as you go through life. Make some good friends, keep them for the rest of your life, but have them be people that you admire as well as like,” Gates recalled Buffett saying.
“Even though he keeps up a hectic schedule, Warren still finds time to nurture friendships like few other people I know,” Gates wrote. “He picks up the phone and calls to say hello. He regularly sends articles he’s read that he thinks Melinda or I will find interesting.”
“Everyone should have a friend as thoughtful and kind as Warren Buffett.”