In all of our lives, we have some regrets from our pasts. Even for us students in our high school years right now, I guarantee you will look back on how your life was today and in the future. In the future, when your life is entirely different, you will look back on your younger years and ask yourself questions like, “Why did I do my hair like that?” or “Who let me wear that?” That feeling of embarrassment while reminiscing about your younger days will surely happen more often than you think. So, in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to take some teachers back in time, relive their embarrassing moments or moments from their time in high school, and ask them questions about their time in high school.
The questions I would be asking are:
- Firstly, I would ask what year they would go back to
- Secondly, what was the most significant moment in high school, or even from that year?
- Lastly, I asked in hindsight, what would you have done to prevent that event or moment from happening?
The first teacher I asked was Mr. Hockaday. Mr. Hockaday told me a familiar story about most high school athletes. In 1999, Mr. Hockaday tore his ACL during a football jamboree and could not play any sports for the rest of his junior year. After looking back at that time in his life, he stated, “There was nothing I could have done to prevent that from happening.” This statement is relatable and a reminder that we do not know what is coming in the future; anything and everything can occur in our lives. We should start appreciating the good moments and the fun times we have in our lives because you never know when something will happen that can change your life forever.
The next teacher I had the privilege to ask was Mr. K, the girls’ wrestling coach, and a great teacher here at PHS. During our interview, he took me back to his senior year of 2012. During that year, on an average spring day, Mr.K and his friends were playing tackle football at the park; it was just some typical high school boys’ activities. In your typical football play, Mr. K caught the ball and ran off with it. Nobody could catch him, but eventually he was tackled, and the worst thing happened, with some girls watching, and his friends looking at him, Mr. K had his pants ruthlessly pulled down in front of all of them. So Mr.K was met with a decision: does he keep running with saggy pants and score a touchdown, or does he stop to pull up his pants? Mr.K decided to stop and NOT score the touchdown. Asking him what he would have changed, Mr.K said, “There was nothing I could have done to prevent it from happening, but I could have maybe just tightened my pants a little more.” This can show anybody that even the most minor things can lead to a funny or an embarrassing moment, and we never really know what to expect from our lives.
The last teacher I interviewed was a fantastic history teacher with a fun personality and quite a big talker, Mr. Lawr. Mr. Lawr and I had a great interview. He and I took a journey back to his sophomore year in high school in 1983, and it was quite the journey. On a cool spring day on the Columbia River, everyone was going out on their boats and enjoying the nice day in the sun. Mr. Lawr and his buddies were doing the same as everyone else; they were having a great time on the river. Little did Mr. Lawr know that things would change in the funniest ways. According to Mr. Lawr, there was a rule back then that stated anyone that is on a vessels on the river 15 feet away from the sore are required to have a life jacket on and being the teenager Mr. Lawr was at the time him and his friends did not have any life jackets on and were not following the rules. So in a moment of relaxation, a boat pulled right up behind him and his buddies, little did they know it was the sheriff just doing his job, but this is where the funny part comes to life. One of Mr. Lawr’s teachers, Mr. O’Brien, was a part-time sheriff for the police department and was in uniform then. In a comedic turn of events, Mr. Lawr could not even get away from his teachers outside of school and was caught by his teacher breaking the law. In hindsight, Mr. Lawr stated that the only thing he should have done to prevent that event was to follow the rules and wear that life jacket.
So, to wrap this article up, it was fun to come to a sense of relatability with the teachers I interviewed because before this, I wasn’t very aware of that relatability I discovered during my interviews with them. Looking at the decisions that were made it was very obvious that most people should think before they act, or spend an extra 5 minutes or so to make sure everything is situated to prevent anything harmful or embarrassing from happening, like Mr. K needing to tighten his pants the next time he plays football or Mr. Lawr might consider wearing a jacket next he goes out on the water. Yes, it is true we all make decisions and may be good or bad, but no matter what happens, life is gonna happen, and everything and anything can come at you at any time, so it’s also essential to stay aware of what decisions we make in our lives.
