Teacher - Its narrow definition would just run around the confines of the school setting. It may remind you of the old gray haired woman talking in a child-like manner while she teaches you how to write the alphabet. It may be your stern looking professor who tortures you emotionally and mentally with his roaring voice and his pile of mind boggling examinations in your university. But the teacher should not always be boxed in a situation that can only be offered by the best schools. Teachers can spring out from almost every corner of the world and from every experience we are faced with

By definition in its broadest sense, a teacher for me, is a person or an experience that had left a mark in our lives. They have been examples for us as we journey through the stages of life from the moment we first opened our eyes to witness the world around us until our very last breath in our golden days.

THE PERSON

I am what I am now because of the persons around me. The way I look, the way I move and the way I think were greatly influenced by the persons I mingle with every single day. They have told me the best things in life from jokes to delicious foods to the beautiful places that I surely would enjoy.

The very first teachers I had were my parents. The very first lesson they taught me was love. Love in its purest sense. They told me how selfless love can be by providing my needs during my gentle years.. They led my feet with every step I made as they held my hand telling me "you are safe, just hold on." They sacrificed hours just to teach me how to utter my first words. Those lessons, even if I can't really remember the way how they taught me, will always be a part of me throughout my lifetime.

Teachers are also the persons who have molded our intellectual capabilities. Yes, I am referring to the teachers in school. They are the ones who continue to nurture our minds by teaching knowledge that would be of great help as we journey through the next chapters of our lives. They taught us lessons as stated in the books written by great authors and great scientists. They were the ones who taught us to follow the rules in constructing the words we speak. They taught us the magic behind the numbers. They also mold our minds to further increase the knowledge of mankind to be able to become critical thinkers when faced with life's challenges.

A teacher, however, doesn't always have to be the greatest thinker or the best speaker. He should also be a great listener. A good teacher knows

how to empathize with his students. A student may tend to be a slow learner but patience should rule over dismay. Come to think of the effort and hope that parents have in teaching a child to walk. That same patience should be present in a teacher for him to be considered as successful in his profession.

A teacher is someone who sees someone whom she is teaching not just as his student but also as his friend yet maintaining a certain professional gap so that respect would still be given to him. He should see the potential in each student he has to be greater than him someday and should not be caged in greed and selfishness by limiting the amount of knowledge he imparts. He should be humble as a sheep yet strict as a wolf.

Some of the best lessons my life were also taught by me friends. They were the ones who saved me in making decisions on things that I cannot open to my family regarding love, romance, friendship and many other things. They have taught me the how to's in living my college life. They have taught me the best jokes and they have shared with me some of the best moments that anyone would want in life. They had been there in every difficulty I am faced. They are my second family.

There is also teacher within us. At some point, we may not have noticed but we have touched another person's life. All the types of teachers I have discussed are also on us. I had been a tutor and taught students who are having difficulty in their subjects. I had been a family to those who are suffering from grief, hatred and rejection that they felt with their real family. I had also been a friend to cry with and to laugh with and I know that a big part of me will always be a teacher even if I grow old.

THE EXPERIENCE

Did you remember when you were still a small child and you saw fire? None of us knew that fire is hot until we had a first hand experience of having our fingers burned. And from that time on, we would never want to put our fingers on top of the fire again.

Just like lessons about love. I remember when I was in elementary and high school when my view about love was always about happiness. Love was like heaven for me then. The feeling was so intense that I get tongue-tied in front of my crush. I always have the idea of forever when it comes to topics about love, until I first got heartbroken. All my idealism about love was masked by pain and it was really hard for me to revive back the hopes and happiness that I had in mind about love before.

when we have much money so we tend to spend unwisely. But once we come to a point where we are suffering from financial crisis, that's the time when we would regret of spending our money on worthless things. We always regret in the end when we have not valued our possessions and we have just wasted them away. After all, people really tend to appreciate the value of something or someone after that thing or that person had been gone

Life is not all about happy moments anyway. We have to go through bits of everything for these things that happen to us would be our life's greatest teachers. It's not enough to listen and learn from the sentiments of the people around us because we may still tend to become very idealistic in making decisions with situations that we ourselves did not have a first hand experience.

The greatest inventions now would not have succeeded if the inventors have not experienced the benefits from these inventions. The lives of everyone would have been put in danger if drugs were not invented and if the diseases' symptoms were not known. Behind every discovery are teachers who have taught these scientists lessons not just from great books but also from their personal experiences.

Without these experiences that taught us in our everyday lives, we may not have been enjoying the beauty of life and the journey ahead that awaits us. Let's share and impart the teacher within us.