Teaching by Example

I have had this poem on file for years. The message is to teach by example not by manipulation or control. It is something I need to work at.

Teaching
by Vernice Wineera Dere

Teaching is not telling, Fore I’ve been told so many times
By those who’ve never taught,
And I have heard their telling
And refused to learn.
Telling, when you are not so yourself,
And have no plans to ever be,
Is hypocrisy
--Empty words that are no less
Than an offense to me.
Teaching, on the other hand,
Is being yourself so completely
That I see how you are
And want to join you.
Teaching is you understanding me
And liking what I am
--not what I can become
by your manipulations.
But what I am, now,
And eternally