Education = Character? Nah.

Some people think that achieving higher education places them above others who are more lowly-educated. I beg to differ.

Does being a graduate mean you are high and mighty, and deserve respect from others? Does being part of an elite group mean you should place yourself apart from the commoners, and that demonstrating empathy towards them is beneath you?

Haiz. Most certainly not.

FIRST, LET'S TALK ABOUT YESTERDAY...

Yesterday, I was in a wonderful mood at work, because of all the smiles I exchanged with people around me, and the air of kindness that surfaced due to the behaviour and deeds of others.

One kind deed struck me in particular. And that's the story of the thermometer in the picture below...

This thermometer belongs to one of the elderly female cleaners working in the school. As the it was temperature-taking day, the students had to bring their personal thermometer to school and measure their temperature for teachers to record and monitor. Any student who forgot to bring his/her thermometer would have to sent out of class and fined as punishment. All the students in my form class brought theirs, except for one boy.

I had no choice but to send him out of class to await punishment by the Discipline Master, who was supposed to go around the school checking on each class. But before the DM could get to my classroom, the boy asked if he could go back to class to join his classmates. Apparently, the elderly cleaner had noticed him standing miserably in the corridor and rushed to take an extra thermometer that she had with her. After sterilising it with some hot water, she passed it to the boy, who was a complete stranger to her. She did all that simply because she had felt sorry for him and wanted to save him from being reprimanded, particularly since he was looking kinda forlorn.

When I met her to thank her and return the thermometer today on behalf of my student, she smiled kindly and said she was glad to have been of help, and insisted that it was no trouble at all on her part, even when I knew that, at her old age, it must have been difficult for her to rush to get the thermometer to pass to the boy.

This elderly lady is not highly-educated, but she accomplishes more good deeds in a day than most high-achievers probably would. I stop to chat with her whenever I can, and through her stories, I know that she cares a lot for the students, even the naughty ones, and would help to 'counsel' them when she can. That's why even the students respect her in return and greet her when they see her around.

NOW, ABOUT TODAY...

In the later part of the morning, I was in a rather foul mood due to an encounter with a certain person. I won't go into too many details, but I was offended by the person's tone and the way she vehemently refused to help a fellow colleague of mine who needed something urgently, despite me 'arguing' with her. Acceding to my request to assist that colleague wouldn't have cost her anything; she simply had to give the nod. Yet, because of some ridiculous reason, she was bent on rejecting the request for help and insisted that we approach someone else who wasn't even available to help at that time.

That certain person is a graduate. Yet, she is way below the elderly cleaner in terms of basic human respect and empathy. What have all the years of education done for her? And it's not just her. Some other highly-educated beings also exhibit the same behaviour and attitude, perhaps even worse.

Maybe I'm wrong to pass judgement based on one incident alone. But this one incident is all it takes to reveal a person's character and shatter whatever image he/she used to portray.

CONCLUSION?

One can be highly-educated, but lowly-ranked on the character scale. And the true saints appear in the most unexpected form.