Never knew you were a teacher- I LOVED teaching, but I know I did not make much difference- I got the shit teaching classes, premeds taking the class because they had to... my main job was catching blatant cheaters and explaining to kids that if you dont show up to class and do the labs that you will not get an A+.

You may not have determined those kids futures, but you probably helped them on their way- I have several teachers I remember fondly- I try to emulate what they did right and avoid their mistakes...

It is only during the past 2 years that I have been responsible for training and teaching others at work...

I dont like the responsibility, and quite frankly I am too nice to ever chastize someone in real life (must make many here laugh to read this)... you cannot teach without correcting someone when they are wrong.

I think you must have helped, maybe in a small way, maybe in a great way- but in the end you helped, that is all that matters. The tired phrase "those that can, do- those that cant, teach" is a vile untruth... Those that can do are the best teachers...

You can probably assume that the surgeon has saved a few lives, and to some extent you can take a small amount of credit- maybe some of the 100's of premeds I taught went on to save lives but I know I never inspired any of them-

I just taught a Lab they really hated and had to take.... I tried to make it fun and only failed people when I had no choice... At least you got them when you could make a difference....