Our Smiles are Genuine

The elementary and middle schools were connected by a breezeway. Every morning, various middle schoolers would walk down to the eastern, elementary school end, to Strings class. Ms. Lesh was away for an extended period of time, so the current teacher was never permanent. In fact, one of our long-term substitute teachers moved to Florida after he got his Master's Degree. One such teacher was slightly new to the music field. He tried his best, relayed his honesty to us, and we all had a lot to learn.
One day, he stopped the class early, took a seat on the teacher's stool, and smiled at us. No, not in a creepy way, as you may have suspected. I mean, he didn't give us shoulder massages or anything. He began a short story. One day after school, a boy came into the room to pick up his instrument. This teacher said, "have a good weekend," and the boy replied, "you too." This two-word reply meant the world to our teacher. He said that he had previously gone to a school where the students would never reply to a simple "have a good afternoon," but ignore him as though they hadn't heard a thing. He told us, "thank you." Even though it may seem like a small thing, it brought the motivation he had previously lacked, to get up from bed at 6:40am in the morning to go to a school, where students held some respect, even just a little, towards him and his instruction.
Guys don't cry, we know. And he didn't, but it seemed as if a good moment had come.

This is not related, but someone told me something a couple of days ago that really struck me down. He said that people were telling him that I was being especially kind to people before MAO elections to get their votes. And the thing is, I know I was in a really good mood in April. But truly, the elections had nothing to do with it. I had a personal reason to smile at everything and everyone who I saw for quite a few weeks, and I still do.
So please, to anyone out there who is reading this: Whether your heart is set out on helping a club, or you put forth all your effort towards something for which you have been striving endlessly, step back before it wraps around you, lovingly or not. Really, step back from it and look at the world around you. It's a big one.

-Kejing