Mr. Toot was my eighth-grade shop teacher.

He was a gentle man of small stature, soft-spoken, and always with a thoughtful message. Even as a fourteen-year-old, I sensed he went into teaching because he felt the “calling” to share his knowledge and to make the world a better place.

I remember observing him as some of my classmates challenged him. He would start off with a kind request to change their behavior, then proceed to a more hard-line approach, which his demeanor was not designed for.

Mr. Toot’s approach to teaching woodworking was to select a project that required one to learn how to operate certain machines. Our first project was a tie rack, and the second one was a nutcracker.

Over the last 61 years, I have often wondered why he chose a tie rack and a nutcracker. Were they metaphors for young teenagers about life? Was he more of a philosopher than a shop teacher? Was he trying to teach us the connection between our minds, hands, and hearts?

My tie rack disappeared many years ago, but I still have my nutcracker. But that’s another story.