WHO A TEACHER IS, IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT HE TEACHES

By Peter Vuono

Title derived from a quote by Karl Menninger.

  
  Three years ago I lost my friend, Bobby Uto, to cancer. Bobby was a great teacher but he was loved by thousands of kids over almost 4 decades not because he was just a great teacher, but because Bob lived a life of compassion, love, and thoughtfulness. He loved his students and they loved him.

  Decades before, I had an instructor at college- Dr. Anthony Deleo. Dr. Deleo was the person who initiated Special Education at Bridgewater State University which led to tens of thousands of Spec. Ed teachers and the services that they would give to Special kids.

  Dr. Deleo had a stroke in the 60's. At times, during his lectures he would, on occasion, veer off the course. I was used to it and it really didn't matter because what I learned from the person he was would last a life time. When I started student teaching, I was told that I couldn't stay in the classroom because I didn't take two prerequisite courses. I then went back to the school and found that they were filled to capacity. Dr. Deleo walked me over to the registrar and cut through all existing red tape and got those courses for me. The next semester I was ready and went back to student teaching with him as my mentor. No teacher I had ever had had gone that extra mile for me and Dr. Deleo taught me a lesson that I would never forget.

  Fast forward to the present. There's a priest from Nigeria who guest celebrates at my church. This is Father Elias Ojomah. For those that don't know, Nigeria is a very dangerous place for Christians and especially priests. In the past 10 years 150 Catholic priests and 50,000 Christians have been murdered by the Boko Haram regime. Father Elias is more in tune than any American how lucky we are to be here. 

   I sometimes miss a word or two of Father Elias' sermons. This is what happens when one is as old as I am. It doesn't matter one iota, however, as Father Elias' humanity and compassion shine through stronger than the sun. On March 9th, Father Elias found out that an alter boy had a birthday. At the end of Mass, he placed the boy in front of the alter and sang with the entire congregation, "Happy Birthday" to the young, beaming man.
 Father Elias knows how precious life is and celebrates it every millisecond. It matters not if I miss a word or two from his sermons. The way he conducts his life and character is a sermon for the ages.

  In 1970, a friend of mine from high school said," Everyone's a priest in his own way".How right he was! The way we conduct our lives is a daily sermon and if we do it like Bobby Uto, Dr. Deleo or Father Elias, people will go and do the same and pass this humanity on. So when the day comes that you are working hard and think that maybe you could do better, cast that thought aside because who you are is far more important than what you could ever teach