“I had a good job, a good life, but my situation made me feel uncomfortable: I couldn’t bring my heart into what I was doing. One night, I couldn’t fall asleep and I remembered a story my father told me when I was a kid. He used to be a police officer, responsible for investigating teens at risk. Once he was questioning a boy, turning 17. The boy got really upset “You don’t understand anything! My life is over! So far I have been selling drugs and steeling cars, and I am really good at it! Now, this means jail. My life is over.” Remembering that story, at that point in my life, it made me wonder if I could help someone young to regain a sense of purpose and possibility in his or her life. It shifted my attention to a field I never thought of: coaching troubled youngsters. It brought me in touch with a 15-years old, a teenager teachers were afraid of because he was violent and angry all the time. When I met him, he told me none of the teachers understood him, that they were all racists. I asked him what he wanted out of his life, he stood still for a while and said he wanted to go to the gymnasium. But since he never really studied, his grades were insufficient to proceed for higher education. So I coached him for his entrance exams. Today, he’s turning 30, we still have frequent contact with each other, we’re friends. He’s 100% committing himself to where he came from: coaching troubled kids to believe there’s a future out there for them. On top of that, he’s also studying integration pedagogy. I’m so proud of him, he knows he changed my life. I got to meet him because I paid attention to my heart. So what invitations have you received in your life you might have overlooked?”

Leif/ Teacher at Everyday School/ Storyteller for our April’s Dear Monday.