Teacher Essay

Professor Adam?
Heather
September 19, 2007

“Now sit down and be quiet please, class is about to begin,” is about the last statement that’ll probably come out of my teacher’s mouth. Try, “What’s up St. Paul, Minnesota?! How ya doin?! Make some f***in’ noise!!!!! I wanna hear everybody…in the back!!……I wanna see this whole f***in floor jumping up and down when we start, alright? And if you’re sitting in your seat, I want you to get the f*** up!!!”

My teacher: a tall man, a little pale in complexion, with long messy black hair, usually all black clothes, and tattoos streaming down each arm. Thick brows hide beneath the rim of his favorite fedora hat and intense eyes stare through narrow lids. He swears a little. He smokes a little more. He’s a Canadian rock star. His name? Adam Gontier, frontman for none other than Three Days Grace.

Although he would look out of place standing before a class giving a history lesson, he seemed to have no problem talking to young people struggling with addiction problems during his band’s “Three Days of Change” tour, where they played small acoustic shows at select rehabilitation, treatment, and youth centers in the United States and Canada. A song would be played, and then Adam would have a question and answer session with the people in the crowd, no limit on the subject (or “no holds barred,” as he puts it).

“It was just something that I thought I’d like to do, so I set it up. The biggest thing about it is I want to let kids know and people know that they can talk about it [their problems].” This lesson, talking about the problems in one’s life, is somewhat difficult to ace in society today, but Adam has been a sort of “inspiration” for me. Almost two and a half years ago, he checked himself into Toronto’s CAMH (Center for Addiction and Mental Health) for his addiction to Oxycontin, a potent pain-killing drug used for cancer patients. “…at the end of it I was taking ten to twenty…eighty mg Oxycontins a day. And just eating them, like crushing them, chewing them in half…yeah; it was a mess, man.”

Adam set aside a month to himself after his time in rehab, to stay at home with his wife and try to begin a new, healthier lifestyle. And he’s stayed clean ever since. These free, intimate concerts in “Three Days of Change” have been put on because they’re a way to give back to the community that literally saved Adam’s life and a way to let people know “that turning your life around is possible and having success at what you want is also possible.” Giving back isn’t so hard when given a second chance at life.

Humans, the selfish species that they are, often take their lives for granted. Adam reminded me of this one day when he wrote a “public service announcement” to the people of the worldwide web through his blog. In a somber tone, he talked about how—although he’s very lucky to be doing what he does for a living—he wanted more. He wanted to change some of the ways of this world—how there are so many that are unfortunate and so many who believe that they’re worthless and don’t belong. He reminded me to “think about everything you have, and consider giving some of it away.” Be pictured in somebody else’s shoes for a day.

I admired how he simply wrote what he was feeling and got it off of his chest, even if it was in front of the public eye, and how he didn’t seem to care too much about what others thought of him for it. This leads me to his next “teaching”. On the band’s website, Adam used to post “Tour Diaries,” talking about their antics on the road and other random tidbits of information he felt like rambling about, ranging from the pain of his new tattoo to what ticks him off to an actual “history lesson” once about the faces on Mt. Rushmore.

In Tour Diary #4, Adam talked a little about guilty pleasures, “Whether it’s constantly eating junk food, or listening to Justin Timberlake while you’re in the shower, or maybe it’s ordering that useless s*** that you can only get from ordering off the T.V. at 3:30 in the morning. This year, my guilty pleasure was watching American Idol.”

Knowing how people would react to this, he stated in a somewhat sarcastic tone, “So what? I’m not supposed to [watch it] because it’s not cool? Because I’m the singer in a heavy rock band, that should only listen to Tool and Slipknot? Sorry.”

Adam has definitely rubbed off on me. Now every time I question doing something just because of how others might judge, I just think “American Idol” and decide, “Oh yeah, why should I care?” He’s sort of helped me to develop more of my attitude towards certain issues…and maybe added just a little more sarcasm along the way, never failing to make me use my brain. But isn’t that what a good teacher is supposed to do? Make us think? Adam seems to enjoy getting the old gears in people’s brains turning.

In his blog, he’ll post surveys. Some are just good-hearted fun; others can get people riled up. In one reply, apparently somebody became angry with him for posting a certain survey—even though it was only to get people’s opinions. Instead of replying with more anger, he said, “Thanks to the dude who said that we should all F*& off for judging a situation we don’t know. I was hoping some of you would pipe up about that...”

In another instance Adam began his blog with, “This time people, I’m gettin’ political on you’re a**es!” Holding a survey for Americans, as a curious Canadian, he was wondering how the U.S. felt about the “heightened security” measures after they headed into Iraq. In the blog after that, he revealed the results to the survey and then stated, “It was pretty interesting to read some of your comments. Some of you got really fired up about the whole thing, which is why I do these things. To make you think, and to get you to say what’s on your mind.

Way to go.
cheers,
Adam.”

In both the lyrics to Three Days Grace songs and in what they speak, Adam and the rest of the band make it pretty clear that everyone needs to be individual, and not always go along with what others think or do.

We can find lessons in all places. We learn from the bad, we learn from the good. As I was writing this, the thought came across my mind of what others may think of my teacher being the lead singer of my favorite band. But aren’t rock stars just people too? Remember: “American Idol.” Though he’s definitely not perfect, Adam is my teacher and there is much more that he’s taught me. Sometimes he’s there for life’s hard lessons, sometimes he’s just good for a laugh, but he’s a constant reminder that we are not alone in the ways we feel and “if you keep your face to the sun, you won’t see the shadows.”

“We are the ones,
We get knocked down,
We get back up,
and stand above the crowd,
We are one.”

“One-X”
-Three Days Grace