Last week I was lucky enough to take a few days visiting Costa Blanca in Spain. I plan to write on this very soon, but more urgently, I need to write about some people I met when I was there.
Driving through Benidorm (yes the holiday haven so many people flock to), our guide Maria Jose Montiel was telling us about her sister, who works at a school in the town. As we sat in the car in the sunshine, full of fine food and great wine, enjoying the sights of a world we only see as part of a search for fun and an escape from “real life”, we suddenly spotted this sister we were hearing so much about.
Surrounded by a group of teenagers, strolling near a golf course, the scene could have been any teacher with her students. But this was no ordinary group – these were some of the most inspiring people I have met in a long, long time, and the next ten minutes was the be one of the most humbling experiences of my life. For while I was in Costa Blanca to write about why people would love to “escape” here, I was confronted with people who have no escape from the lives they live. These students have, by their own admission, led tough lives. At only 15 or 16, they have problems at home, with friends, with drugs…. The sunshine may be shining down on the city they live, but for them real sunshine is hard to find. For months, their teacher has worked to show them a better way – that they can succeed and make anything of their future they want to. On this very day, after brief introductions, she reinforced the message further – “you choose the way you want your life to be”. Stood by the golf course, the quiet, civilised game became her metaphor – they could live their life peacefully, politely, choosing to be successful and to strive for happiness, or they could stick with the lives they have thus far experienced.
And I, so often confused, spoilt, jealous of others, was left entirely humbled. Because, as many problems as they have had, these young men and women listened. And they have been listening to their teacher. They are now polite, calm, talkative young people and, most of all, they refuse to give up! They may struggle in the classroom, but they are now looking for different routes into their future. One plans to train as a mechanic, others will be cooks or waitresses. But all of them are having to consciously make a choice that so many of us take for granted – to better themselves, to rise above the hardships (of which they have far more than I have ever had to endure) and to keep on going. These teenagers are an example to us all – to those of us who think we have it hard, to those of us who think too much about “escaping” from our lives without appreciating what we really have.
And who has helped these teenagers on their way – their teacher, who is prepared to do whatever it takes to help. The energy she devotes to them is a lesson to all teachers, indeed to all of us who meet people who need some help, some attention and some love.
So I send them a message, via this blog, which they were so keen to see their photo on.
Never give up! You are, each and every one of you so incredibly special, you deserve as much as the next person. And listen to your teacher, because she is right. You DO choose, and you can choose. It may be hard, but it will be worth it. You make your dreams come true, never forget that.
And to the rest of the world, including myself. It would do us no harm to take a minute to think of what we have, and what we can achieve and have achieved. Because some people aren’t as lucky as others. Some people have to fight for every scrap of happiness and sunshine they get – and I salute those who do it every day, without ever giving up.
Driving through Benidorm (yes the holiday haven so many people flock to), our guide Maria Jose Montiel was telling us about her sister, who works at a school in the town. As we sat in the car in the sunshine, full of fine food and great wine, enjoying the sights of a world we only see as part of a search for fun and an escape from “real life”, we suddenly spotted this sister we were hearing so much about.
Surrounded by a group of teenagers, strolling near a golf course, the scene could have been any teacher with her students. But this was no ordinary group – these were some of the most inspiring people I have met in a long, long time, and the next ten minutes was the be one of the most humbling experiences of my life. For while I was in Costa Blanca to write about why people would love to “escape” here, I was confronted with people who have no escape from the lives they live. These students have, by their own admission, led tough lives. At only 15 or 16, they have problems at home, with friends, with drugs…. The sunshine may be shining down on the city they live, but for them real sunshine is hard to find. For months, their teacher has worked to show them a better way – that they can succeed and make anything of their future they want to. On this very day, after brief introductions, she reinforced the message further – “you choose the way you want your life to be”. Stood by the golf course, the quiet, civilised game became her metaphor – they could live their life peacefully, politely, choosing to be successful and to strive for happiness, or they could stick with the lives they have thus far experienced.
And I, so often confused, spoilt, jealous of others, was left entirely humbled. Because, as many problems as they have had, these young men and women listened. And they have been listening to their teacher. They are now polite, calm, talkative young people and, most of all, they refuse to give up! They may struggle in the classroom, but they are now looking for different routes into their future. One plans to train as a mechanic, others will be cooks or waitresses. But all of them are having to consciously make a choice that so many of us take for granted – to better themselves, to rise above the hardships (of which they have far more than I have ever had to endure) and to keep on going. These teenagers are an example to us all – to those of us who think we have it hard, to those of us who think too much about “escaping” from our lives without appreciating what we really have.
And who has helped these teenagers on their way – their teacher, who is prepared to do whatever it takes to help. The energy she devotes to them is a lesson to all teachers, indeed to all of us who meet people who need some help, some attention and some love.
So I send them a message, via this blog, which they were so keen to see their photo on.
Never give up! You are, each and every one of you so incredibly special, you deserve as much as the next person. And listen to your teacher, because she is right. You DO choose, and you can choose. It may be hard, but it will be worth it. You make your dreams come true, never forget that.
And to the rest of the world, including myself. It would do us no harm to take a minute to think of what we have, and what we can achieve and have achieved. Because some people aren’t as lucky as others. Some people have to fight for every scrap of happiness and sunshine they get – and I salute those who do it every day, without ever giving up.
No comments:
Post a Comment