The good that we do lives on after us

http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-good-that-we-do-lives-on-after-us-1.78125

DEATH, DYING AND TEACHERS: The work of inspiring educators is remembered

PAUPER or rich, peasant or aristocrat, intellectual or lay person, all cannot escape death.  Before death, all cannot escape the experience of loss and parting. All are accountable for every good deed or evil action.

Medical sciences provide analytic explanations regarding ailments of all kinds and temporary healing and causes of death.

Religion provides guidance on how to live and hope for the hereafter. Philosophy provides the substance of thought to make sense of the inevitable.

While the young are always in fear of losing their parents, parents express fear that their children may go before them.

Beyond expressions of condolences and the rites and prayers, every individual would be left on his own to deal with the loss.

Dying and death are not subjects taught in schools or universities but are difficult subjects that must be dealt with by all in some stages of life.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' book, On Death and Dying, was a seminal work, particularly on the care of terminally-ill patients. Her conceptualisation of the stages of dying, grief and loss has helped many to cope with the phenomenon.

One of the most important universal contributions from the Arab-Muslim world on how to cope with the trials and tribulations of loss is the book by Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, entitled Don't be Sad.

No being can escape the experience of parting, loss, death of those dear and near. The experience of death and dying has been studied intensively and extensively.

The contemporary rebellions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere provide examples that evil politicians are haunted and hunted even after their deaths and many have no peace after leaving the reins of power for all their transgresses.

Those who transgress and make the innocent or ordinary people unhappy by their power lust or supremacy ideals or misguided righteousness, must one day reckon with death.

The Arab Spring is an example of the rise and fall of tyrants and dictators.

When politicians die, they have to account for their deeds or misdeeds towards a large number of people. When business people die, they have to account for their business dealings which are above board or of questionable means.

All are answerable for the lives led. There are those who lead the simple life and those whose lives are more complex. There are those who try to do no harm to others and those who want to harm others.

During different times and in different regions and through different means and in different contexts, there are people considered evil.

Ramses, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and those who committed crimes against humanity are considered negatively in history, particularly by enemies.

On the other hand, teachers and scholars in all societies are those who lead relatively simple, straightforward lives, and are respected throughout the ages.

While people may be jubilant at the deaths of those considered to have caused harm to individuals, families and communities, people are always sad at the demise of teachers who have nurtured the growth and development of their students.

Contrast the demise of political might with the lasting contributions, for example, of linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, whose ideas made linguistics the central science for our understanding of human intelligence, the product of collective human interaction.

His most influential work, A Course in General Linguistics, was not written by him but was posthumously compiled and published in 1916 by his students from notes taken from his lectures in Geneva, three years after his death.

Jesse Stuart, a humble teacher in a noble profession, wrote a little book which has been in publication for over 50 years, The Thread That Runs So True (1949).

He asserts: "I am firm in my belief that a teacher lives on and on through his students. Good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal."

When Professor Emeritus Hyacinth Marie Gaudart died last week, relatives returned from abroad, childhood friends came over from her home state and generations of students, some of whom are leading figures from various fields, turned up to pay their respects.

Teachers and all good people live on through their students and the people they serve as they journey through live.

All religions echo the idea that good people are rewarded for doing their best to bring up good children, through their charity and through the sharing of their knowledge.

This article is dedicated to Gaudart, an inspiring teacher who dedicated her life to the growth and betterment of students.

Professor Emeritus Hyacinth Marie Gaudart was an inspiring teacher who dedicated her life to the betterment of students

Read more: The good that we do lives on after us - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-good-that-we-do-lives-on-after-us-1.78125#ixzz2KjxXiK8Y