R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Stumbled on a show by John Bytheway on BYUTV. He actually is my favorite LDS speaker even though he is not a GA of the church and most of his talks are targeted for the teenagers. I actually met him in person and got to have a quick word with him at the LDSBA convention a couple years back. He's very insightful, inspirational, and funny at the same time. His most recent quote that I like from the show is

"it's better to be respected than it is to be popular, because popularity ends on yearbook day, but respect lasts forever."

Speaking of being popular/respected, the thought hit me hard yesterday. I never was the "popular" guy in school, at work, or even among my circle of friends. I used to be very paranoid at this which worsened my shyness in front of other people. I realized I have come to be rather comfortable at being myself in the past couple of years and rather be a more respectable person than being popular. Yesterday at the chinese speech contest with all the colleagues around that I am not familiar with I did not really care I hardly knew most of them and did not bother to force myself to mingle with them either. Through life experience I know it is rather an uncomfortable feeling not being part of a clique or the "in" group. Now I have learned to just walk away or ignore those who are not interested in or respect me. I really need to please myself before I can please others. Surprisingly yesterday what I enjoyed most was during the return trip of 2+ hour bus ride, I got to talk to a former student of mine and we shared many amazing, but sometimes saddening, or even shocking stories (in Chinese!). It's so comforting to see the growth of the students and we have mutual respect of each other. And I actually have the utmost repect to all of my students for the intense study they have to undertake on top of their hardships in life that they are going through. I'd really prefer spending time on sharing with and even learning things from the students than the mindless social games and the office politics.

As for my current students, week 1 has gone by rather smoothly. I am relieved that for the first quiz all but 2 met the high bar we set at 95 points while the other 2 still scored 85+. They also performed well with the week-end performance I designed which was inspired by my own German class that I am taking. I am learning a great deal on leadership skill as well. Not that I am a power control freak but I find communication skills with colleagues, students, and even myself are crucial and useful. I am striving to be a much more effective and organized person after all.