Teachers can be petty, jealous and mean. The great ones inspire their students to soar above them, in skill and dreams to reach for the stars and chase comets across the sky. The worst merely try to tear their students down, like pulling the wing from an angel or a butterfly as they were some tormented adolescent trying to rip the wings off flies. The best teachers fill us, their ever grateful students with the wonder and joy of learning. The love of the novel, the warmth of knowledge and the comforting friendship of thoughts yet to come, yet to be but always soon to become. The worst teachers batterer us with fear and loathing from their own weak, tepid insecurities that eke out their miserable existence trying to create more gloom dweller incapable of every learning to fly and be free of their own self-pity, contempt and disparaging existence. That is the sum total of our schools. For along that path lies every single teach you will ever meet, from the good to the bad to the horrible. But just one caring teacher will change the perspective of that lucky student who will let them take off, and soar above it all, to reach out to become better than they are, above the petty fray of based meanness, drudgery, and mediocrity. The goal is to survive the bad teachers, ignore the incompetent, and embrace the greatness when you manage to stumble upon the few, the rare but always the best! Learn from those you can. Love those you will and the rest, be they ever so humble, they are our teachers.