Today’s Lesson: Vatos at the Gym and a Unique Gift Idea for Teacher Appreciation Week…

My daily routine begins with a trip to the gym, bright and early and with a tinge of resentment. It is there, that every morning I see a particular friendly neighborhood vato. He is handsome, in his late 20s, and not the kind of person that you would ever go up to and start a conversation with. He has “I could kill you with a tooth-pick” written all over his face. To top it all off, he is an extreme fighter. The dude gets paid to beat the crap out of people. Scary? I think so. Did you know that extreme fighters get a new tattoo after they win a fight? Well, now you do. And guess what, he is covered in them! On one occasion at the gym, he approached me and very politely asked if he could use the machine I was on when I finished. I froze, my life, for a brief second, flashed before my eyes. What could I say? I couldn’t even move! All I kept think was, “he could kill me with a tooth-pick” and “is that a new tattoo?”. After what felt like an eternity, I managed to give my consent.

The hard exterior of such individuals can scare us common folk. But really, they are people too. They have feelings just like me and you. And just to prove that even people with the “I could kill you with a tooth-pick” look can be nice, here is a little proof…

This week is teacher appreciation week. Teachers wait all year for it. We get candy, flowers, food, and other random but meaningful gifts. I told my students that I personally like diamonds, but they gave me something even better. I received a special thug life gift from my students as a token of teacher appreciation. An initiation of sorts, if you will. I, yes I was given the gift of a gang sign by my students.

How many of you can say you have your own designer gang sign? I didn’t think so. It is nice to know that each day when my students come to class and hold up that upside down peace sign with a thumb making a horizontal line, they are really saying, “Adams, we love you”.