An Amazing Teacher: Randy Lynn

The most important message I received in high school was the one that I was most prepared to reject. The message came from an overly enthusiastic, impossibly uncool teacher who knew way too much--and more importantly, cared way too much-- about his subject matter.

His message is one of three messages I've kept with me.

"If anyone is going to change things, you are."

When I was in high school, I knew there was only one subject I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life. I loved literature, and I was going to be a writer. I took every English and literature class offered including honors courses and Advanced Placement courses throughout my high school career.

The thing is, though, they don't let you get away with only taking language and literature classes for your entire career. It turns out, you have to take other subjects to get a wide selection of experiences before you commit to a career. You have to take science, math, physical education, and even history and political science before they let you graduate with a full degree.

As I was moving into my senior year at Harrison High School, I was through with the other classes. I had taken science, math, history, and everything else. I'd taken advanced placement versions of everything so that by the time I reached my last year of required schooling I didn't have to take anything I didn't want to.

So I signed up for nothing but English and Chorus classes. Sadly, there were only two of each offered at my level each semester. Since I had block scheduling and had finished most of my other requirements, that meant I had a few choices. Each semester I could take two classes outside of English and Chorus to round out my senior experience. My first semester, I choice AP Government, and AP Physics.

Physics worked for me because I was already marginally interested in science fiction, and, frankly, the background has helped me immensely. I was interested in government because it was an election year. My senior year of high school occurred during the incredibly 2000 election.

So I signed up for the class, thinking nothing of it.

The class changed my life.

Every previous class in government or history had presented the facts and even made them interesting to me. Only Mr. Lynn made me feel like government was something I could touch with my actions. He made government real, tangible, and changeable. For him, an election year meant not just completing one's civic duty, not just having a single voice, not just filling out a ballot.

Participating in an election meant being a part of history. It meant being an American. It meant having the power to affect everything that would effect our lives.

I didn't vote in 2000. I was only 17. Legally, I wasn't allowed to.

But Mr. Lynn filled me with a desire to make my voice heard. He let me know that being a citizen means having a responsibility to the people around me. Having a vote meant more than being a person. It meant that I was a citizen. I had a voice. I had a duty to my neighbors.

I couldn't WAIT to vote in the midterm elections in 2002.

Every year since then, I have voted. I have voted in every presidential election, every congressional election, and even most midterm state elections. I even vote in runoffs, local jurisdictions, judgeships, local referenda, and utilities agreements. (I think I've missed 8 elections in the past 12 years over two states, which means I vote 4-5 times a year, every year.)

What's more, is because of Mr Lynn's influence, I pursued a degree in political science. When I got to college, I was still convinced I'd be a writer. I took several English classes along with my core classes and imagined that words alone were enough. But when I was confronted by empty holes in my schedule, I signed up for classes in politics.

At Berry, I found that Mr Lynn had only begun to prepare me for a love of the political process.

In college I discovered that politics was a slippery snake, with facts and fictions as slippery as myths, and foundational ideas that tried to redefine the world. Still, the truths with which Mr Lynn had armed me, the scaffolding of our Constitution, the cornerstones of our ideals, and the eternal truths of our ethical heritage stuck with me.

I graduated with a degree in government and philosophy and continued on to a Masters in Political Theory and Philosophy at the University at Virginia, though I stopped just short of a Doctorate.

The man's passion stuck with me.

Even after I spent some eight years in school studying and exploring the concepts of political science, I couldn't leave well enough alone.

By the time I graduated grad school, I hated politics. You don't even know the depths to which political entities will sink to get reelected/win subsidies/win votes in committee/receive free lunches. Politics is so disgusting, and I've seen so much of it first hand.

And every time I tried to get away from it, I heard Mr Lynn's optimism. "If anyone is going to change things, you are."

Dammit, that's too much to lay on a high schooler.

But it's the biggest truth anyone ever laid on me in those days.

And I've followed it.

Through college. Through political internships in DC. Through work with think tanks in DC. Through political work in DC. Through graduate school.

I have even participated in the legislative and judicial processes. I have worked on a few campaigns including serving as a campaign manager for a US congressional campaign and as a social media manager for a judicial candidate. I lost one, but I won the other. I've affected politics at the national, at the state, and at the local levels.

And I'm not going to ever give up.

I may be more focused on my own writing (See, I told you I'd be a writer!), but I have no doubt about Mr. Lynn's words. If anyone is going to change things, I am.

I only had three high school teachers that affected me this way. Mr Randall Lynn, Ed Deavers, and Anita Hanson.

Ed Deavers taught me that dedication, passion, creativity, and grace in the face of defeat mean more than any easy wins. He taught me that I have to take risks and put myself on the line to succeed, and that the more risks I take, and even the more times I fail, the more likely it is that I will survive.

Anita Hanson taught me pure, practiced, and developed expression can change the world. That honesty and creativity take sacrifice, and that true dedication to art will render beauty. Her words, her encouragement have made me the write I am today.

But it's Mr. Lynn that gave me something to write about.

Randy Lynn taught me that every revolution, every movement, every moment of growth starts with a single person. It takes dedication, it takes passion, it takes conviction, but it is possible to change the world if you care enough. If this world is ever going to change, then it starts with me.

Thank you Mr Lynn for teaching me that. My only regret is I didn't get to tell you how much you taught me.