The Nash Rambler: An Open Letter To The Teacher of My Son

For every teacher, every day, every grade, and every school.

Dear Teacher,
Today, I give you my son.

For all of his life, I have taught him what I know about his world, his culture, his family, and himself. I have loved him, fed him, clothed him, and probably spoiled him just a little. I have doctored him, consoled him, nurtured him, and disciplined him. I have held him within boundaries to keep him safe, and held my breath while allowing him freedom to explore his universe.

And now, I give him to you. I give him to you to complete the job that I started.

I give him to you with the trust and faith that you will take your mission to heart. I give him to you, believing in your desire and ability to raise him up to his highest attainable level, and carry him forward into life well prepared to be The Future.

I give him to you, trusting that you will see him as the unique individual that he is, and that you will teach him accordingly; that you will see his weaknesses, but focus on his strengths; that you will treat him firmly, but fairly; that you will set aside your own biases and preferences, and teach him that bias and preference have no place in education or in life.

I give him to you, hoping deep within that you recognize how much he is loved and

cared about; that he is being entrusted to you to build into a person of confidence, pride, generosity, and self esteem; that you will prepare him to face the harsh winds of life armed with knowledge, strength, and judgment.

He has looked to me for answers and guidance and now he will look to you, his teacher. Please see him for what he is- the future of our family and the future of the world. When your job is complete, he will be a man. He will go forward in life carrying the tools that were forged by you.

And so today, and for many days to come... I give you my son.

by Elaine Nash

Permission to copy and distribute is granted by the author.

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome. This is the place where I sometimes remember to write things down before I forget them. If you're over 50, you know what I mean. If you're under 50, you will.

As a lifelong horse lover, a lot of what I'm thinking about these days is the plight of our country's at-risk horses, with abuse, starvation, and slaughter looming as either a possibility or a reality for so many- thanks to the economy, years of negligent overbreeding, and an opportunistic special interest group whose members see dollars signs and meat labels attached to every at-risk horse. I do what I can, through writing and other efforts, to help the hundreds of thousands of horses who have become victims of man's errors. After all the joy horses have given me in this life, it's the least I can do.

I do also think about other things, sometimes, so will share some of those musings, too. Thank you for visiting. -EN