dumplings :
Before I moved to boarding school, almost all the teachers in my class hated me because I rarely did my homework. I had no interest in learning because, back then, I simply didn’t enjoy studying. I was constantly scolded and looked down on because of it. But my English teacher was different. She saw something in me when nobody doesn’t, even me. She was the one who slowly planted the interest to learn in me. She showed that learning could actually be fun, and I loved her so much for that. I still remember the day she told me that she believed in me, saying that I was actually smart and that I was capable of so much more. Somehow, hearing those words from someone who genuinely believed them changed something in me. Suddenly, I was excited to learn. I started trying. I started putting in effort. Slowly, I began to change. Then came report card day.
My guru kelas fitnah me infront of my mom cakap i kuat melawan cikgu which wallahi, i never did. I cried and went home heartbroken. Esoknya, my English teacher found out what had happened. She came to see me personally, hugged outside my class and said, “You’re a good student. You’ve always been so good with me. I believe you.”
And I just cried in her warm embrace.
When I eventually received an offer to go to boarding school, I didn’t think twice. I accepted it immediately. I left because I wanted to prove that I was more than what those teachers had said about me. I wanted to prove that I could do better, that I could become better. And I did.
Even now, all the way into my degree, I’m still proving it. Sometimes I wonder how different my life would have been if she hadn’t seen something in me when everyone else had already decided who I was. All it took was one teacher. One person who looked at a child everyone else had given up on and said, “I believe in you.” Somehow, that was enough to make me believe in myself too.
Teacher, wherever you are, thank you for believing in me when I felt like nobody else did. I hope you know that the student you believed in made it. And she’s still going🩷
2026-09-07 15:39:14