Mrs. Nixon, 1969

Since the 30th reunion I have thought a lot about many of my teachers, all of which played important roles in my life. But one person stands out because a very brief comment and a wonderful smile. Mrs. Nixon (biology) -- It was one of those beautiful spring afternoons --windows open and a slight breeze coming into the classroom. I was standing at the window a few minutes before class was over (probably thinking about what I would rather be doing). Mrs. Nixon had a Jade plant sitting on the ledge and I began to look at it very closely noticing the order and symmetry in the branches and the leaves as Mrs. Nixon walked up. She asked me what I was looking at and I told her about the jade plants precise pattern. She said with such a wonderful smile "you know Gordon, one only has to look to see order in all of nature and life -- most people never take enough time to study a plant or a problem to see the logic and order that is really there, many times you will have to look hard but the order is there - its up to you to find it. You will be way ahead in life if you open your eyes to the order in your environment!"

It's interesting how one comment after class can have so much impact on your life - I began to think about the jade plant whenever I was confronted with a problem or task. Few days go by that I do not flash back to that afternoon in Mrs. Nixon's class and the jade plant to help me look and see what many times is obvious but overlooked by most who never had a teacher that encouraged them to look and see not just look. Not too many years ago I read about physicists and chaos theory explained - guess they had Mrs. Nixon for biology too!

Thank you Mrs. Nixon.
~ Gordon Stevenson November 2002