An Awesome Letter

I have a mailbox at each of the three junior high schools where I teach. This mailbox project was started by my predecessor, Erin, who wisely concluded that with a total of over 1,300 students combined, it would be difficult to connect with students individually. Erin set up a mailbox at each school and asked the English teachers to mention it in class. In addition, she promised that as long as the students wrote their name, grade and class number, she would write a reply.

I liked the idea so much that I decided to continue it. Hey, the mailboxes were already there, right? Not only is it a great way to get to know some of the kids personally, but it also provides a nice opportunity for shy kids to communicate with me in some way. Since a lot of my kids are rather shy, and Japanese students tend to be much better at writing English than speaking it, the idea of writing a letter definitely has its appeal. Writing replies also gives me something to do on days when I don't teach many classes, and there seem to be a lot of those recently.

This week I'm at Kita-chu, and I received a second letter each from two third-year students who wrote to me earlier this month. These two girls are good friends and often say hi to me in the halls or wave at me from the window into the teacher's room, and I go out and speak with them for a few minutes. One girl, Chihori, is extremely shy but very sweet; she also has an October birthday, so we exchanged small presents. The other girl, Saori, is outgoing, loves English, and wrote me an absolutely fantastic letter. I'd like to share an excerpt with you:

(In her first letter, Saori wrote that English is hard for her sometimes. I replied that Japanese is hard for me, and I make many mistakes when speaking and when writing kanji, or characters.)

"To tell the truth, it is difficult for me to understand all Japanese too. I don't know all kanji. I often make a mistake Japanese too, I'm not good at Japanese. I'll study Japanese very hard! English too. English conversation is very important to me. Because, I want to travel around the world and become a member of the Diet! And few days later, I want to be first president in our country!

If I can be the president, I'd like to save of all the world people lives! I hope to be happy many people. I'll move the world! I want to be like president Obama.

I love happiness and peace. You and I cannot buy veritable happiness. I think so.

I hope you be happy. Have a nice day!"

Saori is fourteen years old. Many of her classmates would not be able to read most of this letter. Some of her classmates won't go to high school, since education is only mandatory through junior high school. I doubt any of her classmates aspire to be members of the Diet, let alone Prime Minister. I was so impressed!

I wrote her a very encouraging reply and told her that she inspired me, and she really has. I've read her letter many times since I received it on Monday, and each time I feel a renewed desire to be a great teacher, pursue my dreams and change the world in some small way at least. I distinctly remember the last time I felt that same energy and inspiration, because it was this summer when I was driving on the Garden State Parkway, stuck in traffic, and happened upon President Obama's speech to the NAACP on the radio. So if inspiring me counts for anything, Saori has already followed in Obama's footsteps once, and even if she doesn't enter politics in the end, I'm sure it won't be the only time!