Mrs. Pillar was one of my second grade teachers. She was a great teacher. However, I will always remain
grateful to her for what she did for me more than a decade later.
As a freshman in college, I was involved in a near fatal " 1 " when I walked into a robbery at a convenience
store. One of the thieves 2 me in the head, pumping a bullet into my brain.
The thieves, as well as most people, thought that I was dead. 3 , they were wrong. However, it was a
severe and difficult battle getting back into the mainstream of life. I had to 4 of college to be hospitalized.
Even after I was discharged from the hospital, I 5 many hours of intensive therapy (治疗). I had to relearn
practically everything, including walking, talking, 6 yes, math.
To help with that task, Mrs. Pillar volunteered to come to the hospital and later to my house once a week,
to work with me. At first, the material that she presented appeared, to most people, to be very 7 math skills.
Then, as time progressed, and I made 8 , my "homework" became progressively more difficult.
I remember very 9 how she would come to my home on Sundays, sit with me at kitchen table, and throw
various coins on the table. She would ask me to show her 38 cents, 17 cents, 63 cents. It was 10 for me, but
she also made it fun.
After a year and a half, I had progressed sufficiently, both 11 and mentally, to learn to college. Once
there, I 12 therapy regularly, and four years later I graduated from the University of Texas at the top of my
class. Following that, I went to graduate school. |