A Chance To Be The Burning Star

• Taylor Keith, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2010

Maybe I’ll buy a motorbike. Maybe I’ll sail the world, or become an astronaut. I could be a hairdresser, or a stunt performer, a jazz singer or a ballerina. I could have a wild clan that follows me everywhere I go, or be a loner that travels across the globe. Maybe I’d never brush my hair and stay in my pyjamas all day long. I would go around and create brawls in pubs, or be involved in robberies. I could take off at any moment and not be back for years, maybe get lost in the Amazon jungle. I could live in the bush, become a tank of a person and ‘live off the land’, or marry a prince and become a princess. I might be an assassin with the CIA or be a professional chef with a 5 star restaurant. I could be a famous brain surgeon or a rocket scientist who discovers life on mars. I could win the Nobel Prize and become the prime minister of Australia. But out of all the professions in the world, the exciting, the important, the financially rewarding, the intense and the scary, most of all I want to become a teacher.

Without teaching, there is no future for the human race. Maybe my job will not be as exciting as an adventurer or as life-saving as a doctor. Perhaps it will not be as enjoyable at times like a singer or dancer. I won’t get delicious food or a lot of money. To be a teacher is to inspire, at least that’s what it means to me. I once read that, ‘A teacher presents the past, reveals the present and creates the future’. If that is the definition for a teacher then I cannot think of a better way to spend my life.

There are certain times throughout your life that are filled with doubt, uncertainty and sometimes even fear. It is these times when everything seems impossible, and the life you want looks like a story you were once read before bed. It seems like the road ahead of you has suffered from a rock fall and you have no shoes on; to get to the other side would be painful and risky. At other times, it feels like you’re a burning star and you could just soar over the whole picture and shine all night. Like all the happiness could just explode out of your body and exert itself over the world. When I teach, when I am teaching, I feel inspired, happy, fulfilled and worthy. When I am teaching, I can inspire others and give them a world of information and creativity. I can help people in a way that also helps me to be happy. People often ask me why I want to be a teacher and the answer is so simple I often forget what to say. Is it not obvious? I teach because I love teaching, I love that I can come to work every morning and feel like I can do something, that I am good at something. I love that I get a chance to be a burning star.

So, I could sail the world, or become an astronaut. I could be a hairdresser, or a stunt performer, a jazz singer or a ballerina. I could do all those things but most of all, in this lifetime, the thing I want to become more than anything is a teacher. I want to become a teacher because it is who I am. I am a teacher: and who says teachers don’t ride motorbikes?