Bigger Than We Can Imagine--Morgan

Ms. Star had been through it all. She had been through class after class with hopes that there was one that would pass her final assignment and find the meaning she had been trying to teach throughout her career of a U.S. History teacher.
“I have a feeling this will be the year will be the year,” she said hopefully. Little did she know it was the year.

The first day of class had a new aura; hope and optimism filled the room. The students were outgoing and willing to interact with both the teacher and their peers as well. That atmosphere lasted for a majority of the year, keeping Ms. Star’s hope afloat.

Then came the last two weeks before the big final. Everything had been great until a group of students got a little too into a discussion that the class had. From that point on, the group began to bicker about every topic there was in the book: from the legalization of euthanasia to affirmative action. Ms. Star paid close attention to what was going on because this is exactly what she had wished to avoid. “This isn’t supposed to happen like this. They’re supposed to get along until the final and save the passionate argument for then,” she said dejectedly after class.

The arguing lasted in the days leading up to the final, and as the time diminished, so did Ms. Star’s hopes, so much so that by the final day she didn’t even want to come to school. The disappointment she felt was even greater than previous years because she really believed that this year would be different. She still dragged herself into class and masked her attitude with a smile.

“Good morning class. For your final, we will be having a class discussion about what it means to have rights as a citizen.” The whole class groaned, except for the group of students who had spent the final moments of class to debate.

The debate was going well, good points were being made, and all the students were acting respectable. Then, one student mentioned the topic of respecting the flag. Before Ms. Star could catch up to the reality of what was happening, the conversation took off. What she thought was going to happen was the complete opposite of what actually happened: she had managed to find a group of students that would reach the meaning of her class.

Suddenly, the quietest student in the class cleared his throat and finally spoke up and asked, “Respecting the flag is leaps and bounds harder to understand than we think. We look at it from such a closed-minded and one-roaded point of view when there is so much more to it. There’s generations of lives gained and lost, wars, and rights that we can’t just touch upon and forget. We need to embed them within ourselves. So, yes, respecting the flag is important, but we must also see that the flag is more than just that a symbol of our freedom; view it as a symbol of our right to freedom, a freedom to address the flag as how we as individuals feel comfortable to and not as we are expected or forced to.”

The students felt the atmosphere change. No one could believe that he had said that, but it did. One clap began, then two, and so on and so forth until the whole class was standing, including the teacher. “You have managed to single handedly conquer my long awaited goal of finding someone who can open the minds of others and see that what one may feels about a topic, especially one as sensitive as this one, may not match the feelings of another. Thank you. Even if the rest of you don’t see it now, this will be important to keep with you throughout life and teach your kids.”

Ms. Star ignited a flame in the hearts and minds of the children and the children had finally blown out one out within her. The time had finally come where Ms. Star could peacefully move on and stop asking the same question, but expecting a different result.