token of gratitude
My two students wanted to thank me by either buying me gift or dinner. I was thankful for their thought. I was not keen on the gift or dinner, as it was never what I wanted out of them. But I understood their need to express their gratitude, and allowed them. In my mind, what I truly wanted from them then and now is to be the best that they could be in their professional life, and to build a good future . Of course this would be too much to ask them, and I did not want to give them extra pressure, so I never told them exactly that. Even though they fell a bit short of my expectation, I appreciated that it was already very hard for them to perform at the level that they did. I wished that there would be more that I could do. I regretted that I did not try hard enough as a mentor. I regretted that the mentorship period was not long enough. I offer to be their resource, should they need me. They helped me see things from fresh perspecti...