Today’s Theme: Mean Teachers Getting Humbled 😳
Quick Glance (Story to drink with your ☕):
International DJ returns to his old school and humbles his teacher who told him “he’ll never make it as a musician”
Story 1
Jayden’s Homecoming Mix That Humbled His Old High School Teacher
I went to school with this guy, Jayden. Small town in Australia. One of those places where if you play the guitar at the local bar once, then you’re a “real musician.”
Our music teacher, Mr. Calloway, thought he was God’s gift to the arts. Guy was balding, wore vests like he just watched Whiplash, and acted like anything that wasn’t Beethoven was garbage lol
He’d say stuff like, “Real musicians don’t rely on electricity,” while glaring at Jayden’s laptop like it was a personal insult.
My mate Jayden was obsessed with DJing. He was always mixing beats on his old laptop, giant headphones and all. For some reason, Calloway hated it.
One time during class, Jayden asked Calloway how he could apply music theory to electronic tracks. He was working on a more “classical” mix to challenge himself to become a better DJ. I remember Calloway saying,
“Why do you want to know? You’ll never make it as a musician. All you do is press buttons on your laptop. That’s not real music, buddy.”
We all looked at Jayden cause everyone in the class knew how passionate he is about DJing. Jayden looked honestly offended and at a loss for words, but after a moment, he scoffed and said, “You’ll see” with a smile.
Share the stupid with your friends!
Nine years later, I’m scrolling through Instagram and I see a video of Jayden. We’re not as close as we used to be, but we still follow each other. In the video, there were thousands of people at his show. He’s at the stage of throwing his arms up and down - kind of guiding the people to the ebat.
I clicked on his profile to see what he’s been up to, and found out he recently toured around Europe with some Swedes, playing for thousands of people almost every night.
His latest video though… He was standing on a stage in our old high school gym.
The same one where Mr. Calloway used to make us clap along to Mozart. The caption said: “Full circle moment. Remember kids, you CAN do it. 🙏🙏”
Turns out, Jayden came back as the guest performer for our school’s homecoming.
He looks the same, just with an actual beard and a baseball cap on. Also, now, he’s got thousands of fans and a gold record under his belt. After a few seconds in, Jayden grabs the mic and goes,
“You know, I was actually booked solid until March…”
(it was November).
“But when I found out my old school wanted me here, I couldn’t say no. I wanted to show the new gen that you can be anything you aspire to be if you work hard for it. Right, Mr. Calloway?”
And then he stares at him. Hard. Doesn’t say another word. Just this long, quiet moment that said everything. And even through the video, I could feel it - that ripple in the crowd. People didn’t even need to know the story to understand what was happening.
And just when it couldn’t get more perfect, Jayden starts his set with a remix of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
I felt like a proud father.
