How's your portfolio doing?

Have you taken stock of your personal index lately?

Have you been nicer to strangers than to loved ones?

What's the return on your invested care?

Did you earn love interest?

Good for you!

You can call yourself King of the Hill...

TRADERS

A World of Dreams For Sale

(coming soon)

Am I making a difference? It is a question that often goes unanswered in a time when instant gratification comes with a trip to the mall, to the refrigerator, or by simply turning on the TV.

At the beginning of the year I became a part time teacher at Farrington High. Oh, I wasn't naive. I had heard things and read about problems in the papers. Farrington doesn't have a very good reputation and that's a shame, because it's a great place for learning.

When I had asked, shortly after starting my "tenure," who in class was born in Hawaii, one, out of a group of nineteen students, had raised her hand.

"The others will have to work twice as hard as Sharon," I had joked. As hilarious as that idea seemed the truth is that since most of them are malahinin--new comers-- unfortunately few of them have a good command of English.

First they had to get used to the fact that I was haole--a foreigner. Today, the term is mostly used to denote Caucasians. I took them to the big map on the wall. Hawaii, The Philippines, Samoa, and other native countries were quickly located. The Netherlands was harder to find.

"See, we all come from far away," I had said, "and doesn't that makes us all haole?"

That idea started a lively discussion. Not long after that I noticed Ray, a kid who, after falling behind, was continuously disturbing teacher and students.

One day I waved him onto the lanai.

"What's the matter, mister? What have I done?" he asked in a worried voice, cracking a little in his tough veneer.

"Nothing," I improvised with a placating smile. "Just want to talk." So we leaned on the balustrade and I learned where he came from, how long he'd been here, and what he did after school. Philippines, two years, smoking dope and hanging out with his gang. Hey, he was already fifteen!

From then on we had many a chat.

Then came the day Ray acted way out of line. I underscored my sermon by lacing it with some of the strong words he seemed so fond of.

"That's some very colorful language you are using, mister!" he could suddenly say with perfect diction. Humiliated I decided never to try that again.

About a week later, again showing total disinterest, I signaled him.

"I finally found out your true talent," I informed him happily. "You'd make a great teacher! You're teaching you don't need to pay attention. That it is OK to talk and distract others, and that you don't have to open your book! What you are teaching is you got it right and everybody else got it wrong. I think you have great teaching talent!" Confused he went back to his seat.

I felt somewhat guilty about the incident when he wasn't showing up in school anymore, but then someone told me he was on vacation with his parents.

Less than a month ago, as I was sitting in a downtown coffee shop, Ray suddenly stepped in, surprised to find me there, wanting change for the parking meter. Told me he had parked his father's car, and locked himself out with the engine still running. He's a contrarian by nature.

"What, that kid one of yours?" David, the owner had asked.

"I don't know if he'll come back to school," I had answered. "We'll see. He's always doing stupid things."

"Hey, hey, he's just a kid," David waved my cynicism away.

"Remember that kid?" was the line David welcomed me with when I walked in for some Java a few days later. "I bet you never know if you make a difference in someone's life, but have I got a story for you!" And then he told me that shortly after I had left Ray had returned to wait for lock service.

"So, your teacher, he OK?" David had casually asked.

"You know what?" Ray had answered. "While I was on vacation I kept thinking about what he had said. He really cares, you know. I have decided to stop smoking pot, quit the gang and work really hard on my grades."

One of my goals is now to get them to speak English in class. But don't hold your breath.