'Good Afternoon Buddhist Scholars'

By Spencer Desmarais

'Good afternoon Buddhist Scholars' was a greeting I miss hearing every week, it was

how Dr. Toole greeted his students. As a student of Dr. Toole, I am devastated. He was

known as the funny, engaging professor that students wanted to experience at

some point in their academic career at High Point University. He was the teacher we

all wanted to come to class for. Though the content he taught was interesting and watching his

passion for it was admirable, most of his students attended his class with pure excitement because it meant we got to be in his positive presence that day. 

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Everyone who knew him had similar positive experiences. The part of him that weighs heaviest in my heart is the way he cared about each of his students on a deeper level. I instantly felt his genuine support after the first week of his class. He showed me individual care unlike any other teacher had shown me before. 

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After seeing the way he interacted with each of us in class, I knew I could open up to him about something I was personally struggling with. I pondered deeply about what his reaction might be to what I had to tell him. I was scared, but I realized right after approaching him that there was nothing to be nervous about. Instead of simply giving me his condolences, he walked me to my next class, across campus, to make sure I felt heard, safe and supported. He asked me to tell him everything I felt comfortable sharing, but also reminded me that I did not need to force myself to overshare. All he wanted was to make sure I spoke everything that was on my mind, so I did. After elaborating as much as I could, he assured me that he would be there for me in any way I needed. If that meant walking me to my next class each day so that I felt safe from someone who could harm me, he said he would. He also offered that if I needed a schedule change of any kind, he would take it into his own hands. What meant most to me was him offering to be an emergency contact if I ever felt unsafe again. Never in my time at HPU have I felt so heard, so cared for or so seen. The situation I had gone through was something I did not think I could get through a full semester of, but with him as my professor, I wasn’t scared anymore. 

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I was not the only person who felt the impact of Dr. Toole’s generosity or heroism. I remember in one of our classes he chose to open up about something that had happened a few days prior to him outside of class. He had canceled our previous class which we all assumed was due to a sickness of some kind. We never could have guessed what really happened. 

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Dr. Toole explained to us that he had saved a woman who was being hurt by a man when he was walking down a path near his home. Rather than just walk by and allow the man to hurt her, he stepped in. He did this regardless of whether or not he could be hurt doing so. He left the situation with a concussion and a cut across his forehead after being hit countless times with a rock by the abusive man. But all he cared about was that he saved the girl. He said to our class he would have done it again as long as he knew she had been protected. This was a complete stranger that he didn’t think twice about protecting, which is so telling to the man he was.

No matter who you were or how long he knew you, in his mind you were always put above him. That is the Dr. Toole I hold close to my heart each day. We all miss you tremendously. We promise to put our smartphones and electronics away at the beginning of Buddhism class with our new teacher because he, too, only has one hour with us three days a week. 

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Sincerely, 

Buddhist Scholar Spencer