The Substitute

In all my years of schooling
There was one teacher
Who stood out
Head and shoulders
Above the rest.
He was a substitute teacher
For a single day
In my sixth grade class.
He somehow managed
In that short time
To teach us something
About ourselves,
How to tap the power within.
He explained how
We could go to sleep
And wake up
Exactly when we wanted
Without using an alarm clock.
He was the one
Who taught me
The art of the five-minute nap.
He talked of mastery,
Getting good at what we do,
How easy it is
If we don’t try to resist.
He taught us
We were capable of
Far more than we think.
He challenged us
To write an essay about
The power of our minds.
What was truly unique
Was that every one of us
Showed up the next day
With our essay complete,
Something none of us
Thought we could do,
Something no other teacher
Would dare request,
Much less expect.
It didn’t matter
That we never saw
That substitute again,
Or that our regular teacher
Was back that morning,
Completely dumbfounded
By all the work
We had done.
The substitute teacher
Taught us more in one day
Then some people
Learn in a lifetime.