Touching Hearts - St. John Baptist de La Salle

"Do you have faith that is such that it is able to touch the hearts of your students and inspire them with the Christian spirit?  This is the greatest miracle you could perform and the one that God asks of you, for this if the purpose of your work."

This is one of my favorite quotes concerning the vocation of teaching, from the meditations of Saint John Baptist de La Salle.

As educators we must be willing to draw out of our students the character traits and talents, that allow the students entrusted to our care to achieve beyond their own expectations. To allow them to see a future that is ripe with opportunity.  To provide a vision for them beyond the barriers that they set for themselves and provide for them, the paths to circumnavigate those detours to their own fulfillment.  It is the responsibility of the educator to enlighten, strengthen, encourage, develop, imagine, believe and achieve the possibilites for these young adults who are all too briefly members of our community of learning.

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people."

                                          - Randy Pausch -