"And he became a teacher, which is to become a creator"
José Martí
Throughout my life I have had several jobs. Some gave me stability, others demanded effort, and others taught me valuable lessons. But none—absolutely none—compare to the experience of being a teacher. It is not just a job; it is a privilege that has allowed me to grow as a person while contributing to the shaping of the future.
When I walk into a classroom, I am not going there to “work”; I am going to meet lives that are still under construction. That is where the greatness of this profession lies: in every class there is an opportunity to plant something that goes beyond academic content. The values cultivated day by day are the true hidden curriculum. Patience becomes an art, because each student has their own rhythm and their own story. Empathy becomes an indispensable tool when you learn to look beyond a behavior or a result. Responsibility takes on a new meaning when you understand that your words, your example, can mark a before and after in someone’s life. And humility appears every time a student teaches you something you didn’t know or reminds you why you chose this path.
Being a teacher has taught me that true success is not measured in grades, but in the traces we leave without even noticing. It is that student who writes to you years later to tell you that thanks to a phrase you said in class, she dared to study what she loved. It is that shy student who now confidently defends his ideas in front of others. It is the unexpected hug from a teenager who, in the midst of emotional turmoil, found in the classroom a place where he could be heard. These traces are invisible but enduring; sometimes we see them, other times we only sense them, but they are there, engraved in the memory and heart of those whose paths we cross.
But if this profession has represented anything in my life, it has been a mirror. Because by teaching, I learned. By demanding, I understood. By guiding, I found myself. Every day in front of a group has confronted me with my own limitations and my greatest virtues. I have had to learn to let go of control, to trust the process, to understand that my students are not projects I must complete, but people I must accompany. And in that accompaniment, without seeking it, they have also shaped me. They have made me more flexible, more curious, more human.
Being a teacher has given me purpose on gray days. It has given me the certainty that my life has meaning when I can help others discover theirs. It has shown me that education is the most powerful weapon to transform realities, and that even when results are not immediate, every word, every gesture, every act of justice in the classroom is a seed that will eventually sprout.
Today I say it with conviction: it has been the best job I have ever had, not because it is easy, but because it is meaningful. Not because it pays a lot, but because it gives something priceless: witnessing a human being flourish and knowing that, in some way, you were part of that everyday miracle.
So if someone asked me whether I would choose to be a teacher again, I would say yes—a thousand times yes. Because more than a trade, it has been the place where I learned to be myself while helping others discover who they are. And that, quite simply, has no comparison.
Final Tribute
I have written a collection of poems dedicated to those who cultivate the art of teaching, and here I share two décimas addressed to these shapers of good people.
The Art of Accompanying
For being a teacher is early light
that awakens within the shadows,
the voice that always longs
to see the week take root.
It is the patience that unites
doubt with aspiration,
the offering of the heart
without seeking glory or reward,
for it knows its foundation
is to forge a new way of seeing.
For teaching is an art
that does not flaunt its shine,
it is the lighting of the simple
miracle of walking beside you.
The one who educates becomes part
of the map of what is lived;
their gesture remains suspended
like a lantern in the mist.
A teacher is the one who scents
the shared future.
Note: I used the DeepL Translate translation tool.
The images are my own.