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mrs. murray | the teacher about filmmaking | 08
Mr. Whitman,
As a teacher, I see many people come and go in my life, and that's honestly the hardest part of my job. I'm supposed to create this relationship with each and every single one of my students, but isn't it pointless if they're all just leaving in the end? It's this torturous cycle, and eventually, you just learn to suck it up and prepare yourself for the final moments. Unlike some teachers, I'm the lucky one who gets to follow my students along with their high school journey, if they actually chose to continue taking my filmmaking class. It's both amazing and terrible at the same time. Amazing because I don't have to let go right away, but terrible because I'm more bonded to my students, making it harder to watch them grow up and leave.
In all the years that I've been teaching, I've only known you for barely four years. I wasn't yet prepared to say goodbye to my senior class, especially since we had several months left to go. I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to you, Axel. I thought that you would come back the following week with that infectious smile of yours, and that I would still have a few months until the end of the school year to prepare myself. However, when I heard the news of your sudden death, I just didn't know how to react. It's like my head was pushed underwater, and everything around me sounded fuzzy and felt slow and looked unclear.
You were truly gone, and I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye and thank you for being one of my best students. I've gotten the chance to send everyone else off with well wishes (and now, a year later, I greet my new students with welcome arms), but I will never get to do that with you. I don't think I'll ever gain that sense of clarity. It's even harder because you were a favorite student of mine, and I always looked forward to teaching you more and more about the thing you were most passionate about. I'll never get the chance to conclude teaching you because our session ended too early on.
Filmmaking, however, was something you'd take very seriously. I've got the pleasure in teaching you some things that I never did with anyone else, in fact. You just had this ability to create a story worth watching, and it was truly incredible to watch you form something incredible from thin air. I truly believed you could make a career out of this, but unfortunately, that was cut short as well.
I remember this one film you made in the beginning of eleventh grade. 'The Story of Life', that's what you called it. You filmed the cycle of life — being born, being young, growing up, going to school, graduating, getting a job, making a family, growing older, and dying. It demonstrated the average life, and once you believed the film was over, it started again. Except this time, it showed the gritty bits of life — becoming depressed, living in poverty, getting bullied, how life just cuts short. It was truly beautiful, and I just remember being so impressed with the film.
I'm... I'm just glad that Reagan came to me and told me to write this letter (although it would've been cool if I somehow filmed it). She's helping us all gain closure, and I couldn't be more happy to actually know her. It's great to know that she's doing well now, along with both your families.
Life goes on, Axel, but we will never forget you.
Your Teacher, Mrs. Murray
_______________________________
This was definitely one of my favorite letters to write :')
I hope you cried and enjoyed!
LOVE YOU ALLL. THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME REACH 1K VIEWS ON THIS BOOK!
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