Dear Editor,
Like many, I often find myself debating with others about a variety of topics. Was Bach a better composer than Beethoven? Was Steinbeck a better writer than Faulkner? Is Djokovic a better tennis player than Nadal? One debate, however, that will never exist for me is who has been the most influential educator I have ever had the pleasure to work with. After nearly 30 years in this district, without question, the most gifted colleague I have encountered has been Board President Marlys Davidson.
As a ninth-grade teacher, I have had the good fortune over the years to work with many of the students Marlys taught the previous school term at McAulliffe. Without exception, the kids, at every opportunity, remarked how Mrs. Davidson not only helped them become better writers and thinkers, but most importantly, better people. Year after year after year, I heard stories of her passion, her commitment, her kindness, and her love for her students. I finally decided that I had to find out for myself what qualities this teacher had that are at once so rare and so undefinable.
One morning, I went down the street to the middle school and watched Marlys work with her eighth-graders for two hours. I was left speechless at what I had witnessed. Before my visit, I arrogantly thought that I was an exemplary educator, adept at inspiring kids to reach greater heights of success. However, on this morning, I soon was humbled because of what I was able to observe on that McAuliffe campus. Beyond her prowess in helping her students reach lofty levels of academic success during her time with the kids, she was able to weave in lessons about respect, open-mindedness, and compassion.
All of us have the ability to realize when we are in the presence of greatness or when the person standing right in front of us truly is a master. On that day watching Mrs. Davidson spin her magic, that is exactly what I felt. For the entirety of my tenure at the high school, I have been surrounded by the greatness of the Los Al faculty, evidenced by the levels of success district kids have reached. Nevertheless, it is Marlys and her gifts that have left the most indelible mark on me for nearly three decades.
A couple weeks ago, I was at an ATM machine withdrawing some cash when a woman who appeared to be downtrodden aggressively approached me and said, “Brother, it’s my birthday, give me $5.” I faced the machine wondering what I would do with her request. I wasn’t going to give her one of the $20 bills that issued from the machine, so I offered her the three one dollar bills I already had in my wallet. After I handed her the money, you know what she said to me? She said “Fu*k you, I wanted $5.”
I walked away horrified and hurt by her behavior, her insolence, and her ingratitude. Sitting in the car still stinging from her remark, I eventually began to calm down and look at this woman from a different angle. Maybe she wasn’t as terrible as her behavior implied, I thought. Who was I to judge her? I knew one thing: She certainly didn’t need my condemnation, or my resentment, or my outrage.
In the long run, I thought, what good would that do? What she needed was my forgiveness. At that moment, I was certain that she was so much more than a word of profanity. Reducing her and her life down to one ugly moment at an ATM machine would have been misguided on my part.
After Marlys’ retirement from her storied teaching career, where she quite honestly impacted the lives of hundreds and hundreds of kids, she went on to serve as a mentor to many other teachers in the district, helping them learn the basic tenets of her core values regarding students: kids need to see the good in themselves and the gifts each and every one of them has to offer the world.
Later, as a board member, Marlys has continued her work as a voice for district goals, as an advocate for parents and their concerns, and most importantly, as a champion for the well-being of our kids. With each and every decision she has made in her tenure on the board, she has never lost sight of her one guiding principal: We are here to serve the students of the district. Just as it would have been wrong of me to falsely characterize and judge the woman at the ATM machine because of her regrettable utterance, it would be wrong of all of us to do the same to Marlys.
Through her tireless efforts and unwavering resolve, she has played such an instrumental part in making this district one of the best in the country. Because of her life’s work and the lives she has impacted in such a positive way, Marlys has earned our compassion, our grace, and our forgiveness.
She taught her students to find the good in others regardless of differences, to view conflicts from a variety of lenses, and to look closer at a person before making judgements. In the end, aren’t these the very lessons we all need to learn in order to forge bonds with each other, to create solutions to seemingly complex problems, and to find common ground where compromise is embraced? In truth, these are the very precepts and vital aspects of life that ultimately make us once and for all . . . human.
Ray Coriaty
English teacher
Los Alamitos High School