Dear Editor,

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and as such I do not have enough words to describe how overjoyed I was when I saw a picture of a teacher hugging the student at The Queen’s School who had been on top of the school building.

The reason she was up there can be debated at another time; however, the level of compassion that I saw in that hug reaffirms to me, as an educator, that we as teachers have such awesome powers vested in us.

It is often thought that men are not gentle, that they are not soft, and they do not show compassion that easily, but what I saw in that hug from the male teacher is nothing short of what I would want for all students — tenderness and care.

Mind you, we live in a society in which lots of gestures can be misconstrued, and I can understand the reluctance of many or our male teachers to be vulnerable; however, this picture showed a fatherly love and someone who deeply cares.

I want to use this medium to extend my appreciation to this male teacher, who it is reported is the Spanish teacher at the school for donning his “cape”, like we do every day to save our kids. I dare to say this is what we as educators do everyday. We show up as pastors, doctors, nurses, counsellors, and most importantly, we show up as comforter-in-chief.

It was clear to me that this male teacher in that hug was saying, “Here are arms wide open that love and care for you,” and with that hug, “You are safe and you will be okay.”

Let us strive to be these open arms as a society to everyone, but especially to our students.

Ralston Chamberlain

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ralston.chamberlain@alum.utoronto.ca