Describe one of your favorite moments.

THE EYES HAVE IT

After many decades of teaching and even more of living, many moments come to mind in both terms of challenge and celebration.

There is a moment that I will always remember but one that was split by many years.

Let me explain.

At my school, at the time there was a gifted, optimistic and talented student who I felt it go far in life. His name was Luke.

Luke had an unfortunate habit and that was averting his eyes and looking down and away but never at a person when in conversation. From time to time there were matters with consequences I needed to discuss with him – generally to do with misdemeanours.

I always found Luke to be a very honest person in all matters of behaviour and expectation. However, the fact that he always averted his eyes made him look as if he had done wrong things when in fact he was quite innocent.

One day I had him come into my office and I spoke with him about his unfortunate eye behaviour. We spent 20 or so minutes on the subject of eye contact and I had him practice responding to questions whilst looking at me directly, rather than diverting his eyes.

From time to time thereafter I would just check to make sure that he was on the better track when it came eyd contact.

He finished at our school and went on through high school and then tertiary education.

One evening about 15 years after spending time with his eye contact, I was with my wife having tea at a restaurant.

Up to our table came this young man, have excused himself, and then asked if I remembered him.

I did, and addressed him by name, ‘Luke’.

He’d come over to our table to remind me about the eye contact study we had undertaken together and thanked me for helping him to gain the confidence necessary to be a person making eye contact. He had become an aeronautical engineer and was leading a full life.

That to me with the “other bookend” was a pretty terrific remembrance of a moment split by years from its beginning to its end.