A tribute to teachers

To all the teachers out there - past, present, and future - this one is for you - You who have been part of who we were, of who we are, and who we will become. For truly, without you, there could be no us.

You, as teachers, are our second parents. You are the ones whom we were with half of our waking hours: eight hours a day, five times a week, twenty days a month, or ten months a year till another school year was over and another came along. Year in and year out, during our student days, you were always there for us - during flag ceremonies, in the classroom, during P.E. periods, the flag retreat in the afternoon before class dismissal, school programs, intramurals, when we were down and out and troubled and we needed someone, and other occasions in our lives as students.

Your life as a teacher was one that entailed full concentration and true dedication to your craft, a career you vowed to practice in utmost honesty, dignity, and in exemplary ways. You have to be in your best elements even amidst adversities besetting your personal life. You have to set good examples to your students, to do only what was proper and becoming within the context of morality and the code of ethics. And if only for these, you deserve a standing ovation, our sincere thanks and admiration for being the great teachers that you all were.

You, as teachers, are the quintessential professionals in the world. But sad to say that despite the nobleness of your teaching profession, you have not been acknowledged and rated high, the same way that's given to other professionals who also underwent four years of college to earn a Baccalaureate or a B.S. degree. Yours is supposed to be the most significant among the professions we have in our midst. Others take you for granted, forgetting the fact that without you, there could really be no doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, priests, etc. from among the students that we all have been once upon a time. More often than not, people commit the mistake of not including you in the list of people to be acknowledged for great deeds done, you who have brought the best in us, taught us lessons about life and living, guided us in both curricular and extracurricular activities. You who painstakingly took the time in molding our young minds, to prepare us to meet the demands and challenges of the professional world that we would have to face as we go through life's many journeys.

To all of you our dear teachers in grade school, high school, college, postgraduate, etc: Thank you so much for showing us the rudiments of learning, for the joys, the fun, for sharing with us our seasons in the sun, for inculcating in our young minds the adorable virtues of true Christian living by indelibly imprinting in us the good moral and right conduct, the professional code of ethics, among others, that served as our guide in our quest to be the good professionals and noteworthy citizens of our country and the world.

Hail to you all, our dear teachers. To you be the honor and merits of what we have become today. Wherever you are now, thanks be to you, dear Ma'am. Thanks be to you, dear Sir...

Henry L. Yu, M.D.