What if I told you that one of the most sustainable and lasting forces in the world isn\u2019t nuclear power, coal power, hydrodynamic power or wind power\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In tenth grade one of the toughest teachers I ever had the privilege of learning under gave me a final grade of 91 for biology. At the time, a 91 was a B+, only 1 point away from an A. I begged and pleaded for some extra credit or something to bring my grade up one point to sustain my A average to keep me in the running for valedictorian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She did not concede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She gave me exactly what I earned and I was furious. I studied, took notes, paid attention intently and the highest I could get was a 91…TWICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I asked her to show me my grades so that I could average them myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results were the same. I was devastated. I felt that she could have just given me that extra point and it wouldn’t have been a big deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Afterwards she told me that she really wanted to give me that extra point because she recognized my effort but she would be robbing me of a valuable life principle\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life doesn\u2019t give you what you don\u2019t earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, I did not take this lesson kindly. I hated her so much because I thought it was personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3 months later, randomly, she stopped me in the hall and asked me if I ever spoke anywhere; an open mic, at church, at an assembly, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I told her I hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She then asks if I would be willing to speak at her church to her teens because she believed I was an amazing speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talk about being floored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This teacher, who I believed was responsible for me losing out on valedictorian, believed in me enough to speak to a group of teens that she was responsible for leading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t until that moment that I truly realized why she never cut me any slack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why she refused to take it easy on me with my grades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An overwhelming level of respect and admiration flooded me and it finally clicked\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wanted the absolute best for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She showed me that my feelings have nothing to do with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one cares about your tears, work harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To know and believe that this teacher who was so hard on me for the sole reason of making me better believed that I was a good speaker encouraged me to such an exponential degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a matter of fact, I am still living off of the encouragement she gave me so many years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the power that is generated through the purposeful and intentional encouragement that comes from those that seek to see you succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes no money to encourage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes nothing external.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All it takes is to see the mere spark in a person that you have the ability to influence, and pour all the gasoline on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fire that burns from the fuel of encouragement is a fire that cannot be contained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What if I told you that one of the most sustainable and lasting forces in the world isn\u2019t nuclear power, coal power, hydrodynamic power or wind [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theunsungleader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}