Aspiring to Inspire
by Omar Yanar on September 17, 2008 in Features
“Mr. Yanar, if you went to Stanford why are you just a teacher?”
Just a teacher? Really?
In every class I’ve taught, my students never failed to ask the question. Since when did they – and society for that matter – come to expect so little of teachers? Perhaps there’s a common perception that people who apply their education for the public good could have done better; earned more; improved their status. This leaves me to wonder: in today’s society, is wealth accumulation the true measure of success? Maybe it is. But, even if that were true, most of us at HKS would probably agree that there’s still a place for public service.
When I think about why public service matters, I think of three things. The first is the responsibility to give back. From small town America, bustling foreign cities, and everywhere in between, we made it to HKS – in part because of our hard work and determination, but also because at least one person helped us get here. Public service is the opportunity to return the favor; to share the gifts we were given with the rest of society; to not only look out for ourselves, but for others as well.
The second is our potential to inspire. When was the last time you were inspired by the Gordon Gecko look alike I-Banker? I mean, did you ever say to yourself, I can’t wait to be just like the Monopoly dude? It’s more likely that we were inspired by people like Martin Luther King, Jr., who through their selflessness made the world a better place. And what about our teachers, doctors, and friends? As public servants, we can, like them, aspire to inspire.
Lastly, we’re dreamers. In each of us is a desire to improve the world. To make it more beautiful, benevolent, resplendent, and altruistic. To convert our idealism into systematic change. To convince people — as Robert Kennedy so aptly put it – to stop “looking at the world and asking why” and start “dreaming of things that never were and asking why not?”
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Dear Mr. Yanar,
You perhaps do not remember me, or maybe you do, as one of your middle school students at st. andrew’s episcopal school, I came across this article by accident and couldn’t help but realize that the author was my old middle school spanish teacher. Anyway, Your article makes a lot of sense and, in my opinion, truly speaks to your personality as I remember it from SAS. Most of the classes you taught us would start as spanish classes, but ended up being politics classes. Some would start as grammar classes, but end up covering the science of sleep deprivation. I would like to thank you on a personal note for having taught this little midde schooler something much bigger and better than the ordinary conjugations of ser and estar (which I could do anyways). You taught me how to dream big and look cool doing it. I am now a freshman major in political science and minor in music at The George Washington University, so thanks Mr. Yanar for all your inspiration.
SIncerely,
Arthur W
please feel free to email me any time (amwongchotigul@yahoo.com)