A beautiful farewell speech erases the limits a teacher wants to remember.
01Read the Arabic story
خِطَابُ التَّقَاعُدِ الَّذِي لَمْ أُوَافِقْ عَلَيْهِ
فِي آخِرِ أُسْبُوعٍ لِي مُعَلِّمًا لِلْأَشْغَالِ الْيَدَوِيَّةِ، وَضَعَ زَمِيلِي سَالِمٌ مُسَوَّدَةَ خِطَابِ التَّقَاعُدِ عَلَى طَاوِلَتِي. قَرَأْتُ السَّطْرَ الْأَوَّلَ: «كُنْتُ أَعْطِي دُونَ أَنْ أَتْعَبَ، وَلَمْ أَطْلُبْ يَوْمًا شَيْئًا لِنَفْسِي». كَانَ الْخِطَابُ جَمِيلًا، وَكَانَ صَوْتُهُ غَرِيبًا عَنْ صَوْتِي. قُلْتُ: «شُكْرًا عَلَى اهْتِمَامِكَ». فَجَمَعَ سَالِمٌ أَوْرَاقَهُ مُبْتَسِمًا، وَتَرَكَ الْمُسَوَّدَةَ قُرْبَ مِسْطَرَةٍ خَشَبِيَّةٍ قَدِيمَةٍ.
فِي الصَّبَاحِ، سَمِعْتُ طَالِبَةً تَتَدَرَّبُ عَلَى تَقْدِيمِ الْحَفْلِ. قَالَتْ: «وَالْآنَ يَقْرَأُ مُعَلِّمُنَا كَلِمَتَهُ الَّتِي وَافَقَ عَلَيْهَا». سَأَلْتُهَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الْمُوَافَقَةِ، فَأَرَتْنِي رِسَالَةَ سَالِمٍ: «شَكَرَنِي، وَإِذَنْ نَطْبَعُ النَّصَّ». لَمْ يُغْضِبْنِي الثَّنَاءُ الَّذِي كَتَبَهُ لِي؛ أَزْعَجَتْنِي هَذِهِ الْوَاوُ الصَّغِيرَةُ الَّتِي جَعَلَتْ لَفْتَةً مُهَذَّبَةً إِقْرَارًا بِكُلِّ مَا قِيلَ دُونَ مُرَاجَعَةٍ أُخْرَى.
فَتَحْتُ دَفْتَرًا كُنْتُ أُسَجِّلُ فِيهِ حَاجَاتِ الصَّفِّ. وَجَدْتُ طَلَبِي تَقْلِيلَ السَّاعَاتِ، وَمَوْعِدَ وُصُولِ مُسَاعِدٍ بَعْدَ شَهْرَيْنِ مِنَ الِانْتِظَارِ. لَمْ يَكُنِ الدَّفْتَرُ حِسَابًا ضِدَّ زُمَلَائِي؛ فَفِي الصَّفْحَةِ نَفْسِهَا شَكَرْتُ زَمِيلَةً أَعَدَّتِ الْخُيُوطَ حِينَ تَعِبَتْ يَدِي. أَعَدْتُ قِرَاءَةَ الْجُمْلَةِ الْأُولَى، وَتَذَكَّرْتُ كَمْ كُنْتُ أَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ أَطْلُبَ ذَلِكَ الْعَوْنَ الْبَسِيطَ.
اِتَّصَلْتُ بِسَالِمٍ وَقُلْتُ: «شُكْرِي لِجُهْدِكَ لَيْسَ مُوَافَقَةً عَلَى أَنْ أَقُولَ هَذَا. كُنْتُ مُتْعَبًا أَحْيَانًا، وَطَلَبْتُ الْمُسَاعَدَةَ، وَبَقِيتُ أُحِبُّ التَّدْرِيسَ». سَأَلَنِي إِنْ كُنْتُ أُرِيدُ إِلْغَاءَ الْحَفْلِ. أَجَبْتُ: «أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَكُونَ صَاحِبَ الْكَلَامِ الَّذِي سَأَقْرَؤُهُ». ثُمَّ كَتَبْتُ فَقْرَةً عَنِ الطِّفْلِ الَّذِي تَعَلَّمَ إِدْخَالَ الْخَيْطِ فِي الْإِبْرَةِ بَعْدَ مُحَاوَلَاتٍ كَثِيرَةٍ.
لَمْ تَكُنْ فَقْرَتِي سِيرَةً كَامِلَةً، وَتَرَكْتُ خَارِجَهَا أَيَّامًا لَمْ أَرْغَبْ فِي شَرْحِهَا. فِي الْحَفْلِ قَرَأْتُهَا بِبُطْءٍ، وَتَوَقَّفْتُ لِأَشْرَبَ الْمَاءَ. بَعْدِي قَرَأَ سَالِمٌ ثَنَاءَهُ، مُقَدِّمًا إِيَّاهُ بِقَوْلِهِ: «هَذَا مَا أَتَذَكَّرُهُ عَنْ عُمَرَ». وَضَعْتُ الْمِسْطَرَةَ فِي صُنْدُوقِ أَدَوَاتِي. لَمْ أُصَحِّحْ كُلَّ ذِكْرَى، لَكِنَّنِي لَمْ أَضْطَرَّ إِلَى اسْتِعَارَةِ صَوْتٍ لِأُوَدِّعَ صَفِّي.
Show English translationHide English translation
In my last week as a crafts teacher, my colleague Salim placed a draft retirement speech on my desk. I read the opening line: ‘I gave without growing tired, and never once asked for anything for myself.’ The speech was beautiful, and its voice was foreign to mine. I said, ‘Thank you for your care.’ Salim gathered his papers with a smile and left the draft beside an old wooden ruler.
In the morning I heard a student rehearsing the ceremony introduction. ‘And now our teacher will read the speech he approved,’ she said. I asked about this approval, and she showed me Salim's message: ‘He thanked me, and so we will print the text.’ The praise he had written for me did not anger me; I was troubled by that small ‘and’, which had turned a courteous gesture into assent to everything said, without another review.
I opened a notebook in which I used to record the class's needs. I found my request for fewer hours and the date an assistant arrived after two months of waiting. The notebook was not a tally against my colleagues: on the same page I had thanked a colleague who prepared the threads when my hand grew tired. I reread the first sentence and remembered how embarrassed I had been to ask for that simple help.
I called Salim and said, ‘Thanking you for your effort does not mean I agree to say this. I was tired sometimes, I asked for help, and I continued to love teaching.’ He asked whether I wanted to cancel the ceremony. ‘I want to own the words I will read,’ I replied. Then I wrote a paragraph about the child who learned to put the thread through the needle after many attempts.
My paragraph was not a complete biography, and I left out days that I did not wish to explain. At the ceremony I read it slowly and paused to drink water. After me Salim read his tribute, introducing it with: ‘This is what I remember about Omar.’ I placed the ruler in my toolbox. I did not correct every memory, but I did not have to borrow a voice to say goodbye to my class.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| مِسْطَرَةٍ | a ruler |
| تَتَدَرَّبُ | she rehearses |
| لَفْتَةً | a gesture |
| إِقْرَارًا | assent; acknowledgement |
| تَقْلِيلَ | reducing |
| الْعَوْنَ | the help |
| إِلْغَاءَ | cancelling |
| الْإِبْرَةِ | the needle |
| بِبُطْءٍ | slowly |
| ثَنَاءَهُ | his praise; his tribute |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Track voices, omissions and competing accounts. Choose the reading best supported by the Arabic text.
What to remember
- A courteous response does not by itself establish approval of words attributed to its speaker.
- Omar chooses a partial farewell account while Salim takes responsibility for his own tribute.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Kana in Arabic: Was and Were
كُنْتُ مُتْعَبًا أَحْيَانًا
Kuntu puts the teacher's tiredness in the past without denying his affection for teaching.
Arabic Relative Pronouns: Joining Ideas with Alladhi and Allati
الطِّفْلِ الَّذِي تَعَلَّمَ
Alladhi links the definite masculine singular child to the action that describes him.
