Still Teaching

Sometimes, I talk with a 96-year-old woman who used to be an elementary school teacher.

She has dementia and often tells me the same stories—almost always about her days in the classroom.

The other day, she said,
“I never scolded a child for poor grades. I praised them for the effort they put in.”
“Nurturing a child’s heart—that’s a teacher’s job.”

So I asked her, “How do you nurture someone’s heart?”

Without even pausing to think, she smiled and said,
“You don’t know that?”
“If someone is struggling, you help them.”

It was such a simple answer.

Even after I got home, her words stayed with me.
Can the heart grow through our actions?

Thinking about that, I found myself reflecting on the way she carries herself every day.

At mealtimes, if the woman sitting next to her dozes off, she gently says, “Wake up and eat your meal.”
When the woman starts eating again, she smiles and says, “Good for you. Well done.”
Then a caregiver reminds her, “Don’t worry about everyone else. Please eat your own meal first.”

Something clicked.

She has never stopped reaching out to the person in front of her.

Come to think of it, she often compliments me too.
“You have beautiful eyes.” “Your skin is lovely.” That sort of thing.

Decades have passed since she left the classroom. Her students grew up and moved on. But she just keeps doing it—naturally, without thinking.

Praise people.
Help people who need it.

Maybe it doesn’t have to be anything grand.
Just offer a small helping hand to the person in front of you.
Or say a few kind words when you notice something good about them.
Maybe that’s all it is.

At 96 years old, even with dementia, she is still the teacher she has always been.