Prometheus by Marieta Maglas (i can read book club txt) 📕

in the education of children for over twenty years. When he found the village school he led the library groups and he fostered a love of books. Then Theodore became a History teacher and he encompassed many research studies. He assumed the role of director ten years ago because his profession could fit into this field. Thus, he continued to be the history teacher and the director of the village school at the same time. He believed that teachers can learn to become good educators but some people were born pedagogues. He knew from the beginning it was a place where he would love to teach.

The physical school building was an old Tudor style house with a breezeway and ten garages were converted over the years for the purpose of the school. The school was like a home. Theodore considered a teacher as inferior as an outcast if that person didn't fit the norm based on competition levels. Once, he said:

"A teacher who does immoral deeds should be considered as inferior and an outcast; if the same person develops wisdom and becomes moral and righteous, he should be respected."

The classrooms looked like offices in shape and size, and the children sat around the boardroom table trying to be very competitive. There was a maximum of fifteen students per classroom, but there were no teaching assistants in any of the classes. He stimulated the students to participate in art, especially in the mural painted on the wall and the music building an in-house studio. He was interested in helping the teachers to apply their own pedagogical methodologies to teach the children using all the resources provided through public state funding. He made the school operate as a college preparatory school. He inoculated the teachers a concept of equality and a unique learning experience. He introduced some alternative methods of assessment to allow children to demonstrate their abilities.

Theodore entered the school office. He saw Mike.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm okay."

"Look, I watched a movie where two best friends fell in love with the same girl. She shared her unique relationship with one of them who was her soul mate while she loved the other guy too. The guys had been friends since the primary school until they were torn between their feelings for the girl and their friendship. The girl was torn between two feelings of love, in varying degrees. Therefore, one guy had to sacrifice his feelings of love for the friendship."said Theodore.

"Do you still think of Nora and Michael?"

"Maybe."

"The friendship for a man is very important to me, as well as the true love for a woman. To sacrifice one for another is a very difficult decision."said Mike.

"I would have sacrificed my love in this situation."

"I know and I admire the courage for choosing the friendship over the love." said Mike.

"When someone sacrifices his love, he is making a real and very important sacrifice. But, in fact, he loses the idea of happiness." said Theodore.

"Maybe those people do not want to save themselves. Some of them can commit suicide because life is too hard to handle." said Mike.

"By the way, can you see your best friend in a relationship with the girl you love?" asked Theodore.

"I wouldn't bear to see them together. It would hurt so much that I could decide to go to a different place and leave them alone. Maybe they would have been happy to talk about their whole daddy and mommy cool experience." said Mike.

"Maybe it's not selfish to fight for what you want, but the decision is always in the woman's hands."said Theodore.

"You're right. When we lose something we learn how to accept the things such as they are."

"Sacrificing one love affair for one's friend is sometimes unbearable. Your best friend is someone very well known and he is surely always with you until the end. But the lover is someone you can risk your heart. This is the reason for staying so lonely but searching my real friends." said Theodore.

"Searching the friendship is healthy. A true friendship will last forever." said Mike.

"By the way, I like the ambience that the small classrooms are creating. It is a great atmosphere appropriate for learning." said Amy.

"Yes, this school is very special because it is independent. It is important to understand that this might not affect our decision making. In terms of everyday decision making, the extreme emotional states must be uncommon."said Theodore.

"There seems to be a lot of freedom for the teachers. The teachers can apply their own pedagogical methodologies to teach the lessons." said Mike.

"I like that the methods of learning are different than the methods of other schools. The way the classrooms are constructed seems to be extremely adequate to learning. I just love the sound of this school!" said Amy.

"I think that the village school is a very interesting concept. The way that this traditional high school is set up is very appropriate to all children. I think that this school works so well because of its small size. I don't believe that this concept would be able to work on a large scale." said Theodore.

"When you have too many students in this type of school it can lead to chaos. It seems like the village school has done a good job in order to keep this under control." said Mike.

"The students are hand picked because not all students can learn and comprehend at the same rate and using the same techniques. 'said Amy.
"I believe that if the teacher is effective in bringing the lesson across to the students, and the students are learning and comprehending - then the lesson and teacher are successful." said Mike.

"The class discussions and examples can lead to further comprehension and successes." said Theodore.

"Maybe the state can actually find a sensible solution for our education issues! We seem to be criticized for everything and nothing we do is appreciated." said Mike.

Amy enjoyed teaching at the village school and appreciated its caring, community oriented environment. She saw her job as a new every day adventure, Amy found the work with young children to be very rewarding. In all that she did, Amy hopped to instill the love of learning in children and the desire to be kind towards each other. She felt she was blessed to get to know the community of parents who truly cared about their children' s education. She had served on the school's board of trustees and co-chaired the annual fair. Amy was a Maths teacher and she was Marie's sister. She lived with her husband Mike near the school. She always wanted to be a mother but she was unable to conceive, thus, she accepted this with resignation. Mike was a Chemistry teacher. Mike also liked the warm and the caring environment at the school. He was dedicated to bringing out the best in every child and thrilled to be able to teach focusing on providing a high quality of education for all kids. He had many roles at the school over the years, including being a member and also chair of the board of governors.

"Love is the desire of happiness and after that, love is having someone to share this. It's about sacrifice. I would make the ultimate sacrifice for my loved one. " said Theodore.

"We don't have the ability to choose the person we love, but we may love the object of our choice. But sometimes, after having chosen something, we discover sadly that we chose the wrong thing and we cannot love it. We need to make another choice, to become wiser and to learn to love what we have chosen. The highest object of our love is God. So, if the highest function of our liberty is to choose to be in spiritual contact with God then, our highest function in loving is to love God."said brother Peter, who was the teacher of Religious education at that school.

Peter was also a priest.

"What do you think, Amy, about love?" asked Theodore.

"When you love, you are a little obsessed with the other person. Love means passion and fire. You cannot think of other things. You need to tell everybody that you are in love. You feel completely desired, wanted, and worthy of that person's love. This love wears off when you start to see the person 's flaws. Then love gets old. Sometimes people let it go because of their immature thinking. Love is lost when you are not well balanced." said Amy.

"Do we love with our wills? When my faith and my reason is the God's will, I realize that I love Him, even though my feelings may tell me the contrary. The same principle must hold for the exalted feelings like yours, Amy."said brother Peter looking to her and right into her eyes.

"Yes, Amy, brother Peter is right. For you, love means exalted feelings at the beginning and only after that you search the wisdom to balance them. " said Mike.

"No, not at all. I talked only about a part of love. There is another part, more exactly, the commitment love. It is characterized by an unconditional feeling, patience, and self-sacrifice. There are always ups and downs, but the real love means action, loyalty, and grace. This is the maturity of love. At this moment people develop a real friendship with the persons they are in love with." said Amy.

"The different degrees to loving mean only the liberty of choice. Our will means to surrender as we are in love with The Lord for Whom we make the sacrifice. In this context the highest reaction is the sacrifice. Because love means sacrifice and it was you who said it, too, Amy." said brother Peter.

"What does it really mean the sacrifice, brother Peter?" asked Mike.

"Sacrifice means to surrender something precious for someone whom we love. The sacrifice is the language, the proof, and the food of love. And that someone must be God. '' said brother Peter.

"Does it require unselfishness?'' continued Mike.

"Of course."said brother Peter.

"So, the lovers must lay down their pride." said Mike looking significantly to Amy.

"They may not always be perfect to each other, but they need to overcome their problems so that they can be together in this kind of eternal love. It always works when you need a family." said Amy looking at Mike with fear.

"In reality, it is submitting yourself to the one you love, unconditionally. The true love is unconditional. It's like giving up yourself for the one you love, even if it may cost you your own life. That's sacrifice!" said Theodore.

"Some people can make the mistake of equating their sense of spiritual well being with doing God's will. . When you love a person too much you can become a sinner." said brother Peter.

"It means that your willing to make sacrifices for her, like dying for her, or just giving her the last piece of cake when you don't have any more, is not such a good thing. You can sacrifice your heart by putting it on the line to be broken." smiled Mike looking to Amy.

"We let go with our hearts. We let go of what He like. This is precious to God, this means to sacrifice for Him."said brother Peter.

"For Him only. On the other way, I may love you, but I'm stupid." laughed Mike.

"What is the most precious thing we have which we are most reluctant to surrender. . . ?" asked Amy, visibly nervous.

"The most difficult surrender we all have to make is the surrender of one's self." said brother Peter.

"That will never happen in a common love, sorry, as you said, my dear, commitment love." said Mike.

"Especially when you are so selfish." said Amy