A TEACHER'S CONFESSION

Recently Anita and I participated in a meditation session led by our good friend Mary Grigolia, Unitarian minister, song writer, and spiritual educator. When we broke into small groups to talk about the role of intuition in our lives, one of the discussion questions was "What happened when you were not attentive to your intuition?"

Anita shared an experience she had as a young Sister of Charity when she was a science teacher at St. James High School in Bay City, Michigan. When Joe Malek, a senior, told her that he planned to become a dentist, she said, "Oh, Joe, do you really think that's a good idea?" She pointed out his mediocre grades, especially in science, and suggested that he select a course of study in which he would be more likely to succeed.

She learned many years later from other students who had stayed in touch with her that Joe had become a successful dentist in a neighboring city. Anita has always regretted that instead of listening to her intuition and encouraging him to reach his goal she thought only of saving him from what she thought was certain failure.

Miraculously, a couple of weeks ago, just two days after the meditation session on intuition, Joe Malek called Anita from his dental office in Michigan. He said, "Thank God I've found you!" He had been trying to locate her for a couple of years and finally got our phone number from another student at their high school reunion. Anita was delighted to hear from him and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about his family, his career and the goals he had set for himself.

As for Joe, he thoroughly enjoyed reminding her that he had succeeded in spite of her advice. However, far from resenting Anita's lack of confidence in him those many years ago, he thanked her for helping him develop the determination to succeed. Laughingly he said, "Any time I have a difficult task, I say 'This is a Sister Anita.'"

Anita told him about the meditation session in which she had shared her lack of intuitive insight and confessed that it had bothered her for years. She said, "Joe, will you absolve me?" He laughed heartily and said, "Absolutely! Just pour a bottle of beer over your head as I give you absolution."

After listening to a missionary priest who visited his parish several years ago, Joe resolved to do what he could to make a difference in the world. Every year for the past 12 years he has spent two weeks in Mexico using his talents to treat the poor. He usually extracts about 800 teeth during those two weeks and speaks only Spanish while there. One year both he and his daughter, a Harvard graduate and orthopedic surgeon, visited Mexico together, he doing dental work and she using her surgical expertise in an intern program to treat the poor.

In a letter to Anita following their phone conversation Joe wrote, "You are one of the most influential teachers that I have had to get me going in life. It was just a little talk in the hallway that made me resolve to apply myself to better myself in life."

Joe ended his letter saying, "You have made my life complete to be able to find you and talk with you again. It has been 50 years, (1960) since we had our heart to heart talk, and it has been a wonderful ride. You will never know the great gratitude that I owe you."

Needless to say, Joe's letter was for Anita a source of great joy -- and lots of tears.

Posted September 16, 2010

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