Always separate the act, from the person
Brother KM Joseph, our much-loved cricket-Brother from All Saints High School, is a devoted teacher with lots of love for students. He epitomised tough love, always bringing out the best in students while being strict on discipline. On a long journey to Vijayawada, I asked him once, what his biggest learning was as a teacher.
Brother Joseph told me that one of the biggest lessons he had learned from his years as a teacher was that we should never confuse the act for the person. 'It's always the act that may not be acceptable,' he said. 'It's never the person. Many times we make the entire person 'bad' and that label stays with him or her for a lifetime. Always point out the action and tell them how to correct it.'
It was a brilliant lesson and one that I instantly adopted. How often we lazily label people, not thinking how much damage it could do to that person. How wonderful to know that all people are perfectly fine; its only that some of their actions are disagreeable.
Thank you Brother Joseph.
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