Making a Difference

"You got me interested in history and in writing at Houston Academy, so I took lots of writing classes and history classes at UCSD and National University. As a result, I learned to enjoy reading. Great teachers are so important to kids, because they have a tremendous influence on who we become as adults."

"I'm extremely proud of my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Sharman Burson Ramsey, who has written a book that will be available for purchase later this year. One of the first books that I read in her class was W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human

Bondage." She allowed me to be inquisitive, and she exposed me to a world outside of Henry County, Alabama. Thanks, Mrs. Ramsey, for pushing me beyond what I could see. I look forward to reading your bestseller!"

"She was amazing! I found an invitation just the other day to a tea she gave the 8th grade girls at her home. She really did teach "outside the box".

It is accolades like this that have popped up onto my Facebook Page that have made me realize that I could not be prouder of any book that I have written than I am of these students. It is the dream of a teacher to make a difference in the life of a child. Teaching is a calling, an honorable profession the definition of which is most skillfully articulated by the Australian Council of Professions:

'A disciplined group of individuals who adhere to high ethical standards and uphold themselves to, and are accepted by, the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised, organised body of learning derived from education and training at a high level, and who are prepared to exercise this knowledge and these skills in the interest of others. 
Inherent in this definition is the concept that the responsibility for the welfare, health and safety of the community shall take precedence over other considerations.' 

In other words, those in a profession are motivated by their responsibility for the welfare, health and safety of the community over money. It is a calling. The measure of the teacher, preacher, doctor is not in the amount of money they make but in the difference they make in the lives they touch.

Cassandra King and Janis Owens have honored me with words of praise for my novels. I hope the novels are successful. But, the words of these students are my Nobel Prize.