I Take Pride in Unrecognized Work.

There are words I want to gift to the children in this year's anthology.

A passage from "The Little Prince."

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Never have I felt the depth of these words as I have this year.

As digitalization has progressed, the work has become slightly easier than before. Even so, the reality of our supplementary school, where the homeroom teacher creates the anthology alone, remains unchanged.

I secretly think of this task as the "ultimate volunteer activity."

It is not something I was asked to do by anyone.
It is not something directly linked to performance evaluations.
It is not something that produces visible results.

Yet, every year, I sit down to work on the manuscript.

This is because it is packed with the year I spent with the children.

The casual remarks made during class.
The small conflicts and quiet reconciliations during recess.
The trembling voices before a presentation.
The hands they reached out with courage.

What I want to preserve in the anthology is not the events themselves.

It is the invisible things that were truly there in those moments.

Courage.
Kindness.
Conflict.
And the premonition of growth.

I hope that when they grow up and happen to open these pages, it will gently touch their hearts as "the teacher's words."