Lesson Learned, Lesson Taught

Found out a professor of mine from my college days passed away a few years back. I'm a university instructor now myself. Not formally a "professor," but the students all call us that, no matter what our title on the paper says. My style as an instructor is very much due to having been that past professor's student, long ago.

A couple of years ago, a student came into my office with a fried Arduino in his hand. He'd hooked up the power wrong, based on some dumb YouTube he'd seen. Did I kick him out? No. I spent two days a week for the rest of the term, teaching him basic electronics. He knows what he's doing now, and he doesn't think I'm an asshole.

What would have made him think I'm an asshole? I suppose if, instead of helping him see what he'd done wrong, I'd castigated him for misusing equipment, told him he was too ignorant to work with electronics gear, and banned him from my lab, that might have done it. But I didn't because, thanks to that professor of mine, I know what it feels like to be treated that way, so that's not what I did.

Rest in peace, professor.

You were a dick to me. But, I finally got even with you for it. When I was in your place, and a young adult came to me after making a mistake, I undid the damage you almost did to the future. As far as my student is concerned, it's the same as if you were never here.