365/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. This is it. The end is finally here. My year-long gratitude journey comes to a close with this final post and to quote that song – I did “Save the Best for Last”. Yes, that may sound very narcissistic but that’s the entire point of this gratitude post. It’s about me. And why can’t one or rather why shouldn’t one recognize themselves. Take pride in their own accomplishments. Think highly of themselves. If you don’t think well of yourself and put yourself first, why should anyone else think any better of you. I have always done that and never let what was happening in my life change the way I see myself. Maybe that’s why I’ve gotten through all that life has thrown me and I’ve shown life that I believe in me, and so should everyone else. I’m far from perfect and I can admit my foibles but they don’t define me – I focus on the positives. This year long journey has allowed me to become even more comfortable in my own skin – I mean, I got a belly from inactivity this year (through no fault of my own – injuries and sickness) and the Randy of a year ago would have been obsessing over it but today’s Randy is oh well, I’ll work on it. I went through a relationship crisis that I am still working on but I’m not so consumed that I won’t allow myself to enjoy what life puts in my way at the moment. I fully embraced aging – denying in my 40s but wearing it proudly in my 50s – I mean I accepted my grey hair finally purple shampoo withstanding 😉 I make fun of myself because I know that I am sometimes not the brightest bulb but I still shine bright (maybe not like a diamond though) : ) I am proud of my ethnicity and no longer denying it. I admit and own up to my weaknesses and character flaws and am trying to learn to improve myself. I’ve opened up over the past year. I’ve shared more than most people share in a lifetime and only then to a few close people. I’ve alienated people but I’ve also earned the respect of others. I am strong. I am weak. I am bold. I am nervous. I want to be accepted. I want to accept. I want to be loved. I want to love. I want to be respected. I want to be needed. I want to be heard. But with all that, I am so very happy with myself. I am a good person. I try hard. I don’t always succeed but I have a good heart. Yes, I hurt but that won’t get in the way of me still being me. I know I’m too much for a lot of people but I’m not going to change for anyone as I love who I am and how I put myself out there. And I love the people who have stood by me and who support me. I am me. I have a lot more to learn about myself and still open up about that 365 days didn’t allow but in the end, what I undertook and finished and who I am as a result is someone I am very proud of! On this last day, I thank me, myself and I as I am a pretty awesome guy if I don’t say so myself ; )
Category: gratitude blog
July 22 – U
363/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. Wow, only 3 more gratitude posts left including this one!! When I started this journey a year ago, I was a little nervous as to if I would have 365 people to thank. I didn’t want it to come down to posts such as thanking my mailman for the flyers he delivers in that they were the ones that led me on to some awesome deal!! ; ) Early on in these posts, I started hearing from friends that so and so had made “the list”. I didn’t understand what that was until I was told that it was my “gratitude list”. That put some pressure on me to say the least as there was now a “list”. I didn’t want it to be a list and I didn’t want it to be some type of contest. Then I heard that some people mentioned they were in the 80s and others were in the 200s! I do have to make it clear that I haven’t had an order as to who I thank and thus whatever number gratitude post it was has no relation to ranking. Most posts are the night before or a couple of days before. Yes, I saved my dad for his birthday as I did with my children for theirs, my mom was first because well she is my mom but save for them and the final two gratitude posts, no one had a day or a number. The list by the end of Sunday is far from complete. I could thank another 365 people who got me to where I am today and this is what today’s gratitude post is about – to all of the people I didn’t name and there are hundreds of you that have impacted me! So many former students, co-workers past and present, family members, inlaws, bosses, professors, fellow students, random strangers, neighbours past and present, friends, backhanded gratitudees (bullies and the like), service providers, celebrities etc, etc – just so many people who have made me who I am and to all of you un-named in this past year, you are part of this gratitude journey just because you were not personally mentioned here doesn’t mean you weren’t recognized by me. To all the new people that will come in to my life, thanking you in advance as some of you will change and influence me in new ways. Thank you to all of you who came along with me on this 365 day journey as well. Your encouragement and support has gotten me to this end point.
July 18 – Pokemon Go indeed!
359/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. This post was never supposed to happen. I rarely play tablet/phone games except for Trivia Crack and Songplay. They are fine. They have not consumed my life. I didn’t get the intrigue of any type of gaming apps until last week. I downloaded Pokemon Go. Actually, I didn’t. We didn’t have it here in Canada. I just put a random query as to how to get it and my grade 12 graduate of this year, Sam, sent me the link. I got on and I got hooked. I have never connected with random strangers in person as I have with this app. First of all, I actually want to go and walk my dog. Before this, I would hope that my children or my wife had walked him. In the last week, I have taken him – and sometimes on two walks!! I have gone up to places and when I realized that there were teenagers there Pokemon-ing, I pretended to text while in fact I’m catching one! Today was surreal. I was at elementary preschool and the little kids figured out very quickly what I was doing while waiting to let them into the school. I had a swarm around me giving me advice and what to do and what not to do. The instant connection. I have seen them for the last two weeks but this Pokemon Go phenomenon just brought me down to a relatable level for them. Then, this afternoon, I am walking through Steveston Park (with my dog Shadow) and a few teenagers are on a bench. As I approach them cell phone in hand, they immediately ask – “Pokemon Go?!” and I look up and smile and a conversation happens. This would never have happened if not for this game. I would just have passed them and they wouldn’t ever have acknowledged me but here it is – generations connecting. Plus, as alluded to earlier, I want to be out and about. On the weekend, sitting with a friend beering and I am Pokemoning and the server is all enthralled and I keep her updated as to how many Pokemons I have caught (13 in a 90 minute stint at that table!!!). Yes, this gratitude post was never on my horizon but in one week, I am sparking conversations with random strangers of all ages (okay, all ages below mine) as are they with me. Thank you Pokemon Go creators for a game that allows me to be active and interactive inter-generationally with others at my age of almost 51!
July 17 – save the last dance
358/365 -people to thank who have had an impact on me. I am the type of guy who thinks that everything in life will always work out. The philosophy that I employ in my teaching life is that I, as teacher, am not there to mold students but to rather unfold them as they bring to my class (and to me) a sense of who they are. Education is not to indoctrinate but to introduce. I feel that I and my colleagues are there to get students to enjoy something about school and to try and reach a potential – not necessarily their full potential but to start on it. That has been mindset when it comes to my students and perhaps that is naïve on my part but that’s what I believe and I have met many of them as adults and see how they are living their lives and I’m really happy for them as they are on that path. Earlier this year, and don’t judge me here, I, with a buddy, ended up at an, ahem, a gentlemen’s club. We just walked in on a lark and ended up at the stage – let me repeat, don’t judge 😉 We are having beers and talking to each other and sadly, which is normally the case, not paying much attention to the entertainment. As I’m engaged, I hear “Mr Sangha? Is that you?” 8/ I was in shock. I looked up and I immediately recognized A!! I had taught her more than a decade ago in grade 12 and well, here she was – uhm, in all her glory – on stage. I could not look at her and she sensed my unease and comfort. My buddy was in shock – no doubt as I was stunned beyond belief. I sat there, consciously avoiding any inadvertent gaze at the stage because to me, my former students are perpetually 17 and 18. A finished her set and robed up and came right up to me. All eyes in the establishment were on us as it was a weird bonding but no one knew she was my former student. She gave me a hug and as I do with my former students, I gave her one – I would not have rejected her as this the exact moment where I realized that I had no right to judge. Before this moment in time, this type of entertainer didn’t really elicit any emotion from me (be it positive or negative) as I didn’t think there would be anything ever linking us but here was super smart, keener A in that same role. We sat, had drinks and talked about how she got to where she was. It was a great heart to heart and I understood a lot more about her life circumstances that brought her to this moment. She could tell I was dejected and she told me that I was still one of the teachers that she remembered and that she hoped I wasn’t disappointed in her. That did it – damn, tears welled up – here is this stunning biracial beauty who was an athlete and academic achiever in front of me again and everything else I had just seen (actually avoided) and heard was out the window. I gave her another hug. Wished her well. That moment stays with me and now I realize that yes, I can have expectations for my students but they have their realities and just because I have defined potentialities doesn’t mean that they aren’t reaching them – just a different set of them given their life circumstances. Thank you A for schooling me!
July 15 – school’s out forever
356/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. This gratitude post is for every former student who has stayed in touch with me/kept in contact with me. For those who are on my Facebook feed and will give an occasional comment or a like on some ridiculous life event that I have posted, I appreciate you. For those who spot me in a restaurant or pub and come up and shake hands/give me a hug, I am honoured. For those who are going about their life be it at an event or working in the community and I happen to be there unknowingly and you go out of your way to say hi, I am moved. For those of you who throw out a text and ask to connect over beers/movie/dinner, I feel privileged. For those of you who take it upon yourselves (years later) to send me a shout out telling me how I affected you positively, I am beyond words. I feel I have been very fortunate to have become a teacher but it’s all because of the amazing former students that I got to work with. The majority were from Burnett – 16 years’ worth!! I have only been at McNair for four years so the legacy is just being created as of yet but there are the rare few that fit into this category and I was only in Vancouver for two years at different schools and thus, made minimal connections. Although this gratitude post might be short in length, it’s huge in how I feel about the students I have worked with – just because you didn’t get a personal shout out during this past year doesn’t mean you didn’t impact me in some form as we all have different ways of connecting but thank you to all of you who have passed through my doors but more importantly to all of you that I still “connect” with.
July 12 – you did me wrong
353/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. How cliché? 😉 But it is so very true – I totally understand and live by that motto. Everything that I have been through in my life has made me the guy you know. Yeah, my life was tough but I know people have had it rougher. I accepted my fate in life and dealt with it. What I do wish though was that I had support growing up. Yes, as I wind down these posts, I must throw in one final back-handed gratitude post to people who, without your non-care (for lack of a better word), made me even stronger. You all should know by this time that my dad was a paranoid delusional schizophrenic. We, as kids, were told to keep it hidden. Deny it. Don’t talk about it. This was told to us by our mother. But she was forced to tell us this as her in-laws wouldn’t accept/believe that their son/brother/brother-in-law had a mental illness. I recall overhearing my mom being lectured that she was making things up and she had to stop phoning the police when my dad would lose it on her. I remember also being told as a teenager that I was in collusion with my mom by having my dad institutionalized for that decade or so. I was in shock and I had so much anger at my dad’s family. They saw things from the outside. We lived things from the inside. As you may also know, my sister and I were in foster care for a short period. We were living with different relatives at other times when my mom would be hospitalized because of my dad’s violence. The anger stayed with me for most of my life. I had to see these people at my dad’s funeral – these people who never were there for us growing up. Any one of them could have stepped up and been a father figure, a true uncle but that never happened. On my 18th or 19th birth year, my mom wanting to take me to see my paternal grandparents in India – I was lectured to by my uncles there that my mom and I (once again colluding) to steal my dad’s wealth and property there – no, they had no clue about the poverty we actually lived in growing up as my dad put my mom on an allowance and so she had to hold down multiple jobs just to care for us but I listened and festered. I, however, did learn that three of his other siblings (two whom had committed suicide) were also afflicted by the same mental illness – I got a better understanding of my dad. I was forgiving of my uncles and family in India as they did not have the same knowledge level as my dad’s Canadian family. I have 100% forgiven my dad because none of what he did was in his conscious control but I can’t forgive my dad’s immediate family here in Canada. You could have made a difference. You could have acknowledged that there was something wrong. You could have supported any of us, all of us. Yes, you lay blame on us. I’d like to think I’m a bigger person and can move on but I’m not that good – I can’t forget and I definitely can’t forgive. I will say though that you have taught me a life lesson that not all family is there for you. Yes, this gratitude post might come off as very bitter but I think I’m entitled to this one. I am so that much stronger in spite of/despite you and for that, you get the backhanded thank you!
July 9 – it’s all elementary
350/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. I have been asked a few times why I chose to be a high school teacher over an elementary school teachers and my response jokingly has been that I don’t want to be touched with germy hands. I never, ever considered elementary. I just knew that I was suited for high school. The students there would get my sarcasm. I would end up making the elementary kids cry. The students in high school/listen/follow the same pop culture icons. The elementary kids would go home and tell their parents and I’d be in a whole world of trouble 😉 I have also joked about the calm nature, soothing voices, and just general loving nature of elementary teachers – totally not me!! For the past week, I have been part-time employed assisting kindergarten to grade 7 summer school! I did it last year as well. Totally outside of my comfort zone. They touched me! LOL I had to tell them to keep their distance. I watched the elementary teachers working with them – first time ever I saw close up the difference between high school and elementary and I was in awe. These teachers were amazing. So good with the students. So suited to be doing the job they were doing. I also look back to my elementary years and I had some amazing teachers. I reflect on both my kids teachers and they too were amazing and my kids loved elementary school because they felt important and acknowledged. Yes, the argument could be made that it is the nature of the classroom and the school but I do think it has a lot to do with the type of teachers that are in elementary school. Just as I know that I would not be suited for that type of role, they probably know that they are ideal for the job they are in. The patience and the general caring nature that is so second nature to my elementary sistren and brethren is what makes them the perfect people to be in their role. Thank you to my own elementary teachers in shaping who I am. Thank you to my both my children’s elementary teachers for helping create the adult and teenager I have today. If not for my summer school job, I wouldn’t have seen how amazing you all are in what you do for all of us!
July 1 – oh Canada!
342/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. Being born and raised in Canada of course has great advantages. I am very privileged and I know it and I guess being ethnic makes it even that much more real for me. I have been to India a few times over my life and every time I have come back to Vancouver, I have realized that I take a lot of things for granted. Yes, India has progressed greatly from my first trip to the last one I took in 2009 but I am still very lucky and glad to call Canada my home. Today, on Canada Day, I am not thanking a specific person, rather I am thanking my country! I am so very proud to be Canadian. I love being a part of a mosaic and being able to retain my very essence and still be Canadian rather than having to be melt into a pot to be nationalistic over individualistic. The entire world loves Canadians! I have never, ever heard anything negative about Canada. I mean, it’s the exact opposite – how damn nice we are and yeah, we are!! 😉 When you see my face, Canadian isn’t probably one of the things that comes to mind but when I see myself in a mirror, Canadian is one of the things that I see! That’s the thing that sets Canada apart from any and every other country – diversity! I don’t know any different as I was born and raised here but Oh Canada, am I so very happy to be damn Canadian! Canada gave you Ryan Gosling, Ryan Reynolds, Drake, Justin Bieber, Winnie the Pooh, Superman, Basketball, Poutine, Walkie Talkies, Imax, Ice Hockey, Plexiglass, The Caesar, Peanut Butter, the Telephone, Shania Twain, Seth Rogen… and well, yeah, me!! 😉 Damn yeah, Oh CANADA!!!
June 28 – i learned from the best
339/365 people to thank who have had an impact on me. I’m going to say it – basically, only one or two classes in all my seven years of university at UBC enrolled in the Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Education and Master of Education degrees actually taught me anything worthwhile. I can’t even remember the countless courses I had to take for the sake of having to take them – basically jumping through the hoops in order to get my required degree – and most of them did not matter and taught me very little. Yes, some will argue that the courses and university education in general “taught” me how to think. No, I knew how to think – that’s how I got into university in the first place. So I go back to my belief that very little of the education there was of value to me personally. I had some great professors and Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is in the top 5, if not in the top 3. I had to take several electives during my Masters degree and I decided to take her course under Educational and Counseling Psychology – it was Social Emotional Learning in Adolescents (or some theme around that). I thought that yet again, this would be another filler course that I just had to get through and complete what was required of me but as I’m sure you can guess, that was not the case. Kimberly was very easy going and her nurturing personality came out in class. Different people brought in food to the class weekly to share while the lecture was going on – an idea that I “borrowed” from her when I was teaching at UBC myself. She was heavily involved with the Roots of Empathy program which she described during lectures and imagine my surprise when I learned that my son who was in Grade 1 at the time was involved in said program in his classroom! She allowed digression from the course syllabus as long as the work challenged and inspired us. I ended up completing an intensive, fact-filled research paper on Relational Aggression (basically Mean Girls) to better understand what my grade 8 daughter was going through and to also relate to the high school girls I taught. This was the first assignment in all of my university career that I thoroughly enjoyed completing. After reading it, she suggested that I get it published but I was too nervous to even entertain the thought; however, I have shared the paper with several colleagues and a few of my students. I want to thank Kimberly for being such a wonderful educator who not only inspired me with the way she taught but also allowed me to get interested in what it was she was teaching which benefited me on a personal level. How I wished all my professors were like you!
June 27 – Burnett
338/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. If you’ve read my Facebook posts in the last week, you no doubt have heard that I finally have consciously decided that I belong at the school I have been teaching at for the past four years – in fact, I had not unpacked my boxes in all those years on some subconscious hope of perhaps moving back longing for my old school – Burnett. It was not the students, it was not the building, it was not the teaching load – it was the people I worked with at Burnett. I remember upon leaving to teach at UBC (7 years ago) that I made a goodbye speech and in it, I was able to talk about a significant event that I had with each and every staff member from the janitor to the principal, from the secretary to the teaching assistant, from the teachers to the business assistant – that’s how involved I was with the social aspect and making connections with all of my co-workers. Of course, I didn’t know everyone on a deep personal level but I did know many and I valued that. Tonight, was a Burnett year end party and I was invited as I was and will always be (according to the hostess) a Burnetter at heart. I was excited and as soon as I got there, instantly old friendships were rekindled and current ones were tended to. I missed talking to my friends but I also realized that I have moved on of course physically but more importantly psychologically – the unpacking of the boxes was both literal and metaphorical. Yes, Burnett was my first real home for sixteen teaching years as I was only in Vancouver for two years (at a different high school each year) but I am no longer a part of the current Burnett. That doesn’t mean that I no longer associate with the school but now I accept and associate with the Burnett staff but belong at McNair – that’s where I am supposed to be. Tonight’s party revealed that Burnett had an amazing staff that I worked with over my career there and I am very grateful for sharing the space with such awesome people and want to thank everyone who made my time there enjoyable and I am so glad that I still keep in touch with so many of you – you made me that much of a better teacher! I do the Breaker Wave in your honour!
randysangha 