It starts as a nightmare

 

Being pushed into a classroom

Saying goodbye to mommy and daddy

And finding a stranger who looms

In front of the classroom, all friendly

 

A painful process

 

Where you are forced to see

Where your faults are as a child

Learning to agree

That screaming is inappropriate

And that disobeying will entail the corner

 

Rewarding moments

 

Where doing the right thing

Becomes as easy as 1, 2, 3,

Just what we learned in class!

Now pass me my candy

 

Building awareness

 

On who the friendly person is

Who my classmates are

Who are my friends?

Who am I?

 

Annoying moments

 

Where you realize that this place

Where you are stuck in for 8 hours everyday

Is full of people who

Fill their own agendas;

 

Through acting like monkeys,

Disrupting the classroom

Annoying the friendly person in charge

And making them punish all of us

 

Amazing moments

 

Where you realize how much you have grown

How much you now know

How much out there that is left to know

And having a couple of friendly persons to your disposal to learn

 

Heartbreaking moments

 

Where frustrations build

Where decisions need to be made

Where advice from friends and family won’t work

Where friendly people know best

 

Final moments

 

Where you learn how hard it is to be a friendly person

Some who go to college part-time for their higher degree

Some who still pay loans

Some who have a hard time with other students

Some who advise all walks of life

Some who stay after school for long hours

Some who have families

Some who are advisors for dumb clubs

Some who went to big universities or community colleges

Some who, despite all the downfalls, found a positive to each negative

 

Some who inspired me to become a friendly person

Some who inspired me to be . . . an educator