Recently I had a class with a student who explained to me that he was diagnosed with cancer. I don’t want to go into detail about my student and their problems – I think they’ve earned the right to deal with things the way they want to.
Part of teaching six month courses at a big company is that you get to know a lot of students very well. Over the usual six month course we talk about their career and their work, but we also touch on families, hopes and aspirations. I knew that working with this many students the law of averages meant that sooner or later I’d get some bad news from a student. It was still tough to deal with.
Anyway, the thing about cancer is that it is a life changer for not only the person who has it but everyone around them. It makes you step back and think a little more deeply about what you are doing and why you are doing it. So in some small, tiny way it is a good thing, but it is still hard to get past the bad news.
My student will be attending classes off and on during the remainder of the term. He has the perfect attitude for the situation, and I think he’ll do fine. The company is being very flexible and helping him out, too.
So the news spurred a lot of deeper thinking for me, and I’ll let things roll around in my empty head for a while and see what develops.
