“The mind needs a mover to actualize it through teaching… Therefore the teacher raises the intellect to know the things he teaches…”
Thomas Aquinas, On the Teacher
At the end of a year a teacher is tired. It can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture through a myopia-inducing welter of details that need attention.
But sometimes something happens that brings the bigger picture back into focus.
The other day one of my colleagues was walking to class. It wasn’t just any class: it was the last of the semester; it was also the last of a life-long vocation. Raymund O’Herron has been teaching at this college for all of its forty-one years.
I was very glad to come upon him this beautiful spring morning, as I often have before, as he went along his way. As I approached him, I could not imagine what it would be like to be making that trek for the last time. With obvious understatement I offered, “Today’s the big day, Ray.”
He stopped and smiled. It seemed his eyes were already misting as he gave voice to what was in his heart: “It’s been a great way to spend a life.”
I was completely arrested. Here is a man looking back with memory at over forty years: of wrestling with difficult concepts, and of how to make those concepts accessible—or what you think, and hope and pray, will be accessible; of witnessing the coming of age of countless young men and women, and their trials, triumphs, and failures; of trying to awaken something you know is already there, if only you can touch it, and then get out of the way; of entering into relationships profoundly human and intimate, but which are always more about the other than you, and in which you must maintain a respectful distance; of striving to do something that calls for more devotion than you feel capable of offering; of trying to be something that often amazes you, and that you grow to realize is first of all a call to you, to become something more.
In a word, at over forty years of being.. a teacher.
Did he always know he would be a teacher? Did he wonder now and then whether he had made a mistake, and picture himself doing other things a man might do?
Ray, it has indeed been a great way to spend a life. And your students—whose lives could not be what they are without your teaching—will always be grateful that you chose, again and again, to spend it as you did. For to be a real teacher is indeed to spend a life. And blessed are those, inside classrooms as well as inside homes and in every corner of human life, who lovingly receive the gift of being a teacher, and then share it with those they love. Such good choices will echo without end.
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is considered one of the greatest of medieval theologians. He called Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) ‘the Philosopher’ and wrote commentaries on all his major works.
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Thank you for this, Dr. Cuddeback. And for your kind words recently at the College in recognizing my Dad. Dad’s vocation as teacher and career at the College have always been a big part of our lives, and the gratitude from you and others means a great deal.
John, Thank you for this kind response. I mean every word that I’ve said about your father. The more worthy someone is of praising, the more of an honor it is to offer the praise.
My eyes are misting in reading. Well done! Well done!
First semester of freshman year, by no choice of his own, my son was assigned to two Professor O’Herron classes. As he struggled to do well, we provided lots of encouragement that he understand Professor O’Herron as a father figure. As he was able to do this, I noticed my son was able to understand me and my intentions better.
After that first semester, my son purposefully chose Professor O’Herron’s sections.
And that means we can again recognize that nothing under divine providence is ever an accident. Well done!
I was assigned Mr. O’Herron for my first philosophy class at Christendom; I opted to take his classes for the next three semesters after that. I had never been exposed to this discipline before, but through his teaching Mr. O’Herron gave me the love of philosophy I have today as well as the desire to teach it, God bless him for that mentorship.
The formation my husband received, in part through Mr. O’Herron’s class, allowed him in turn to form other students as a philosophy professor over a period of ten years. It was indeed highly rewarding for him, and something which gave him much fulfillment. He has since moved on to another profession, (as someone pointed out to me “to every thing there is a season.”) Rest assured that after the years and years spent planting, the harvest will be abundant. On that note, enjoy your summer, and a well deserved respite!
Thank you Dr. Cuddeback. Both my wife and I are teachers, and this speaks volumes to the reasons why we feel blessed to teach, even if we can’t put it quite so elegantly as you. I think most teachers at some point are enticed by a career that might reward us greater financially, but to be in a position of influence to so many young minds and hearts, truly is something very difficult to put a price on. I pray that how ever long all of us who teach (at home or school) are given to live out our vocation, someone along the way might look to us the way that so many seem to have looked to Mr. Raymund O’Herron. Thank you for sharing.
And thank you, Blaine. It’s always nice when we teachers can give each other a little encouragement…
What a wonderful tribute to a truly remarkable man. Thank you, Ray, for the many years of giving yourself and the riches of the Church to so many, many students. May God fill your retirement with a hundredfold of the joy and truth you passed along to others, and then (in the distant future!) the reward of Himself in Heaven!
John, thanks so much for your writing. We depend on you to keep us “posted”! No pressure – but thanks for your reflections as well as the news. I particularly appreciated these words:
“I was completely arrested. Here is a man looking back with memory at over forty years: of wrestling with difficult concepts, and of how to make those concepts accessible—or what you think, and hope and pray, will be accessible; of witnessing the coming of age of countless young men and women, and their trials, triumphs, and failures; of trying to awaken something you know is already there, if only you can touch it, and then get out of the way; of entering into relationships profoundly human and intimate, but which are always more about the other than you, and in which you must maintain a respectful distance; of striving to do something that calls for more devotion than you feel capable of offering; of trying to be something that often amazes you, and that you grow to realize is first of all a call to you, to become something more.
“In a word, at over forty years of being.. a teacher.”
So true. God is good!
Thank you, Suzie. As you note, Ray does indeed deserve such recognition.