All I have to say is that I decided to start… it was a beautiful autumn day. It was September 15th. It was a great holiday in my heart. I started a journey in life. I started school. I don’t know what it means or what it meant to others, but it meant a lot to me. I can say that this is a chapter in my life that I am very happy about. I’m still a student, and some of my classmates would probably laugh at the way I tell this chapter of my life, but I remember with joy and deep feeling the first day, the first days, and—why not—the beautiful years I spent in elementary school. In the first grade, I read the textbooks I received with great passion, I packed my notebooks with great passion, and I made friends from day one. These friends were real, not virtual. We enjoyed each other’s company. We continued our childhood in a different form, during the happiest time of our lives, at the purest and most entertaining stage of our existence. It makes us unique.
And the person who was kind and truly unique in my life (except for my mom) was my teacher. She was beautiful, she was kind, she was one of a kind; I could look for all the superlatives and attribute them to her. If there were a scanning machine, surely everyone had an aura when she first entered the classroom, when she smiled at us, and when we were all determined to make the world a better place. And we were sure we would do that. I came back every year to help the teacher organize the end of the school year. I did so with pride, dignity, and a sense of responsibility toward the little ones, just as I had been back then. It was so good to be a kid. I’m still a kid at heart, and I’m not ashamed of it. Grown-ups fight wars, grown-ups sometimes do evil… but kids have to be allowed to live in an imaginary world, in stories, in a world of their own discovery. This is certainly the case because this land we all visit, from which we all leave with a wonderful healing balm, is magical. Yes… childhood is a magical universe. „Joy has to be shared with someone,” Mark Twain said, „the joy of childhood with childhood friends and, last but not least, with parents who can be friends.” I felt a special relationship with the person sitting in the teacher’s chair. If I were angry with a classmate, whether they were a friend or not, the teacher would reveal the truth. I could say I felt accused, but I was innocent and even naive, and we would reconcile in just a few moments thanks to her. She knew exactly how to solve everything.
We live in a world bombarded with stereotypical messages: people talk too much about success, careers, millionaires, models, and other diluted symbols of a „perfect” world. We get lost in too many details and often forget to discover the beautiful things around us that make us happier. I want to convey a little of the joy and even the happiness I experienced as an elementary and high school student. I lived simply, because the simplicity of things often brought satisfaction to our souls. We ignore simple things that are right at hand but seem ridiculous to us; things that bring joy to our souls and bodies without requiring special concentration or effort. All we have to do is notice that they exist and accept that it is nice to live simply. Looking at old pictures, I saw that I grew up, experienced my first teenage love, and encountered many things that I learned here. And I’m not talking about math presentations, history lessons, or copying homework during a break—I’m talking about life lessons.
School is not just about formulas and definitions. We started our own family earlier this year. We enjoyed the autumn fruits and tasted the traditional zacusca made by my mother. We collected vegetables and fruits and donated them to an orphanage, truly enjoying our actions. And because grand politics deals with the fate of other nations, starts wars, and launches attacks—where some are cruel to others without looking for real value, or simply because others tell them to—students just want peace on earth. We want to live, and we want to love, no matter what language we speak at home. I speak Hungarian at home. But with my buddies, language doesn’t matter, as friendship speaks for itself.
When I was a little girl, I drew a gift for every family member. Now, I have managed to save money for gifts from my own allowance or scholarships. And the most beautiful gift for our family is to appreciate them and not forget that regardless of our degrees and behavior, whether successful or not, our family is with us and stands by us. This is what I learned from them and from school. „I loved being a student.” School does not exist without students. Without the student, THE TEACHER WOULD NOT EXIST. Thank you, esteemed teacher, who is a Master, an actor, and everything all in one. I will not disappoint you.