The Word „master/Master” Sounds Strange…

Résumé

The author avoids using the term master/Master, instead referring to the concept of a Teacher when describing the people who played a significant role in her life and who are the main protagonists of this article. These people are the Professors Anna Kutrzeba-Pojnarowa and Witold Dynowski, ethnologists, excellent lecturers and researchers; and also people full of passion, respect for the achievements of other scholars, fascinated with the history of the discipline they represent and the interrelation of “macro” and “micro” history. First and foremost, they are great PEOPLE. Reminiscing about encounters with them, the author presents the model relationship between a teacher and a pupil, close to her, which is not limited to passing knowledge. The relationship is based on kindness, openness to others, and motivating them to overcome their limitations, fears and difficulties. The skills of noticing the potential of others, encouraging them to develop, acceptance, keeping one’s spirits up, support and co-existence should also be mentioned.

Another person who also played the role of Teacher, although she has never been designated as such by the author, is her Grandmother Janina Orzechowska.

She was the one who shaped the author’s attitudes to life, her way of looking at other people, her passions and ways of being. She was the person whose selfless love expressed by her behavior, gestures and looks accompanied the author from an early age.

The motif of the relationship is very explicit in the text. The author emphasizes that relationships are not always joyful and constructive. Sometimes they clip one’s wings, they hurt and take away the light. Relationships which are beautiful in the beginning can also change under the influence of an illness, of one person affecting the others. The author describes changes like that via the example of the relationship with someone who appears in the text as the anonymous Teacher. It was a person from whom the author received a bitter lesson in life, far from fairy tales with a happy end.