The use of words and expressions related to levels and distances.

THE minute I entered the classroom, my spirits took a dive. Another blackout had just occurred and the fans had stopped whirring as a result. Immediately, the room felt stifling.

The boys had just come back from physical education and temperatures were rising all round. Their shouting was becoming a tad noisy for my liking. The principal was on the prowl and I didn’t want this group of antsy boys to be his target.

I yelled at the top of my voice to get their attention and to get them to settle down. This was one of my weaker classes and today, I simply had to make them finish their practical Science reports – which were due yesterday!

My tension mounted as I watched them take their time to simmer down and get their books out. My frustration went up a notch when I found out that many of them, as usual, had forgotten to bring their half-finished reports to school.

To compose myself, I sat down with a sigh while they sorted out the problem of borrowing test pad paper to begin the task at hand. How were these boys ever to aim high in their lives or have lofty goals when they couldn’t even be bothered to pack pencil and paper for school?

Economically, they were already in the bottom rung of society. Further, they were weighed down by the fact that they lagged behind in their motivation levels. In terms of wanting to climb up the ladder of academic success, many of them lacked the will to go the whole nine yards. Teachers like me who were prepared to go the distance for them were few and far between.

I have never looked down on them for not having the basic necessities in life but watching them scrambling for paper among themselves now like beggars, I just prayed their apathetic attitude wouldn’t make my mood plunge.

As it was, I wasn’t feeling at all well. Since morning, my spirits had been at an all time low due to a nagging headache and joint pains that sent chills through the whole length of my body.

By 11am, the general malaise I had brought with me to school had escalated into a full blown running nose and a low grade fever. With all these symptoms filling my cup to the brim, I knew it was going to be one of those days when I would be a shade more touchy than usual. As it were, my spirits had already hit rock bottom. I prayed again that none of these students would push me to my limit today.

As luck would have it, a higher power was definitely listening to my unvoiced appeal because a prefect came to the door just then to inform me that all the students in my class had been called to the hall to attend a talk on dental hygiene that had been arranged for them.

Just as the students eagerly left the class in twos, the electricity came on again. The relief I felt bounded to new heights. The situation was looking up – I knew the hall would be air-conditioned and cool too. My heart soared with gratification.

Later, when the students had found their places and the talk had begun, I found my fevered mind drifting at first, then spiralling down in a whirl of joyless thoughts. With the fever rising in my body, and the school day’s final bell still a good three hours away from ringing, I was feeling down in the dumps.

Then I remembered what Eckhart Tolle says in A New Earth – Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose, a favourite book of mine. “At the height of creative activity fuelled by enthusiasm,” he writes, “there will be enormous intensity and energy behind what you do. You will feel like an arrow that is moving towards the target – and enjoying the journey.”

I feel that about being a teacher. On days when I am well, teaching fires me up and I feel as if I am possessed by an energy that comes from far, far away, yet fills me up. This energy lifts me up and propels me forward.”

Having felt for myself the powerful upthrust that enthusiasm gives me, I’m not surprised when Tolle reveals that the word “enthusiasm” comes from the old Greek words, en and theos (God).

“The related word enthousiazein,” writes Tolle, “means ‘to be possessed by God’.”

With my health down, I may have lacked enthusiasm for my job but when my body temperature evens out, I’ll be back on my feet, surging forward with my creative ideas once again. I look forward to that.

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