In old times, when there was no commercialism and teachers taught students for the sole purpose of service and when this profession was not the mean of their livelihood, the blessings of this noble profession could have been noticed in the personality and life of teachers. Even today, this unique profession is having a lot to offer for the teachers who are here with a sincere intention of serving and building the generations of the nation.

No doubt, there may be those (and they may be in majority in some cases) who have selected this profession because they look for an easier job, want to enjoy the authority of being the king of the classroom or in worst cases, were not able to find any other job.

May Allah protect our children of all those teachers who don't realize the true worth and value of this profession and are alien to the concepts of dedication and self-neglect required by this profession. It is the reason why, the results are so frightening and with every passing day, the condition of our youth, both morally and academically, is worsening.

Anyhow, there are still present those who are holding up the noble flag of this profession and are sacrificing each and every thing to sustain the good name of this noble duty. I would like to quote one example of such a great teacher from our surrounding and it is not a fairy tale.

He was termed to be abnormal by his colleagues. He used to arrive early to the school where some of his eager students awaited him for extra lessons. He used to leave late in the afternoon and in breaks, he stayed in class to help the weak students and make clear some unclear points. He was found to be coming to school on weekends or vacations. In staffroom, when teachers were found to be busy in chatting or enjoying their time, he used to be busy in doing school-related activities.

All these things surprised others and different kind of comments flew in the air about him. Some turned him to be a crazy person who was no more normal in his life. Some thought him to be workaholic who could not stand sitting idle. Anyhow, he never changed his style. The factor that really surprised others was his extreme attachment with his students.

Once, he noticed a student looking worried. He had lost his book and the next day, he was going to give the exam of the subject. Child was a hostel student and he was not allowed to go out of school. His teacher asked him not to worry and started looking for the book in the school but could not find any. Then he went to bazaar and looked for the book and when he returned after an hour, he had not succeeded in his quest. As a last resort, he took a book from another student, went out and photocopied it. It also took some 30 minutes and that day, reached home late in evening. He did not tell about this to anyone as others could have laughed at him but he was happy that he was able to be of help to one of his students.

At times, his colleagues laughed at him that he showed extreme concern about pity problems of his students. If a student behaved abnormally or out of the routine like appearing upset or absent-minded, he would soon start investigation and reached to the core of the problem. He was an expert in winning the trust of others.

He kept chocolates, pens or similar small gifts in his bag which he generously distributed among his students on different occasions. It was later on discovered that he arranged all these from his meager salary.
He was often contacted by his students to get his advice about their private problems. He gave such good and sincere advice that they entrusted with him their truly confidential matters and shared their matters as if sharing with a close member of the family.

He knew almost all of his students personally and was contacted whenever any information was needed about any student. He knew their full names and also knew their habits, moods, aptitude towards different subjects and their different abilities. Moreover, he had impressive relations with the parents and knew most of them personally and thus had established personal ties with them. This good relation with parents had helped him a lot in controlling and curing different personal problems.

He was always found to be behaving very decently, kindly and politely to his students. He was observed to be present with his students on various occasions. He used to eat with them, play with them, arranged picnics with them and participated in every activity with them.

With all these qualities, he was no doubt the most popular among students. Every student thought that he liked him more than the others. With this scenario in mind, his every word was taken as an order and he had completely occupied the minds and behaviors of students. He was everything for them, a leader, an elder, a family member and a source of inspiration.
One day, he was asked a question, "Sir, we laud and appreciate your perseverance and sincere dedication but in the present day world of greed and selfishness, it all seems to be strange. Would you like to share your views so that we may also try to draw some inspiration from it?"

He gave a faint smile and said, "First I should say Istaghfirallah, as all these are the favors and bounties of Allah and there is nothing that I can credit to myself. First thing to understand here is that, we are the followers of prophets and prophets came and changed the world in their short life spans.

They achieved this difficult task by winning the people. It was not possible for them to be among them forever but they inspired so many people that they continued their holy cause forward. Same is the case with teachers. This is not a profession rather is a noble and blessed duty and those who cannot do justice with this duty, should not join it at all. You are supposed to change the nation, and this is possible by winning the hearts and minds of your students.

As this task is very difficult so your efforts should also be far above the normal. Winning the hearts and souls is possible by love, sincerity and incessant efforts by the weapons of goodness as these things attack the minds and heart. When you will win their hearts and minds, then you will be able to easily transmit whatever message you want to transmit.

Then, you have to earn not only your students but also their families as it is very essential in this regard. You are doing it all for a noble cause and people would laugh at you, suspect the soundness of your mind and even your colleagues or school administration might discourage you but you should never forget that you are for a noble cause and your spirits should not be let down by the stupid thoughts of others.

Today or tomorrow, they will understand you and would admire you and then more candles will be lit from one candle".
Then I realized how much lucky this man was who had such thoughts and who had spirited soul to follow his elevated thoughts.