Heroes Die

Writing a personal essay for my English 226 class was harder than I imagined. Though I find my essay to be lacking in many areas, I believe I found a great topic (as did both of my group members).

I decided to write about a high school teacher of mine that I found to be amazing in more ways than one. Not only was she a teacher that taught me grammar and such, she was my mentor and counselor on life. If I had a problem, she knew how to fix it even if it was just a hug to ease the pain. She was indeed one of my heroes. She watched me stumble over rocks every time a standardized test would come around, and she saw me triumph over poetry when I was published in Seedlings.

The day she died was a hard hit to take, and when I looked for her to ease that pain, she was gone. This is what made the essay so hard to write. When I got started I had to step away. I had to sit down and evaluate my emotions more, yet I still feel disappointed in my first draft. Over the past few days, I wrote, rewrote, revised, and I still feel as though I did not do her any justice.

I am currently taking two English courses. In my British Literature class we are reading sonnets. I read Spenser as he immortalized a woman, Shakespeare as he did the same. These great authors were able to write of a woman and celebrate them for centuries to read about. I wish I could do that for her. She influenced so many students lives that it will be sad if her legacy would one day just diminish and no longer be there for someone to read about or commemorate her for. I’m hoping that I can do that.