My mum is a school teacher and my dad is an electrician.

When Jai Courtney declared, “My mum is a school teacher and my dad is an electrician,” he was not merely naming the professions of his parents, but honoring the roots from which he himself has grown. These simple words shine with the quiet dignity of ordinary lives, reminding us that greatness is not born only from thrones and palaces, but from the steady labor of those who teach, who build, who keep the lights of society burning. In this humble confession lies the eternal wisdom that behind every man or woman who rises in the world, there stands the unseen strength of family, of sacrifice, of honest work.

The school teacher represents the shaping of the mind. To teach is to sow seeds in the soil of another’s life, knowing that the fruit may not be seen for years, perhaps not even in one’s lifetime. Courtney’s mother embodies this ancient calling, that noble labor of guiding the young, of pouring knowledge and encouragement into them so that they may walk further than she herself could. The electrician, by contrast, symbolizes the builder, the craftsman, the one who works with his hands to give light and warmth to others. His father represents the strength of practicality, the knowledge of craft, the power to take what is raw and shape it into service for others. Together, these two figures—teacher and craftsman—form the balance of wisdom and strength, mind and hand, thought and action.

This balance echoes throughout history. Consider Leonardo da Vinci, son of a notary and a peasant woman. Though he would rise to become one of the greatest minds in history, his genius was not born in palaces but in the observation of simple life, in the fusion of intellect and craft. His roots gave him humility, while his hands gave him mastery. Or consider Abraham Lincoln, born to poor farmers in Kentucky, whose early life was shaped by books taught to him by his stepmother and by the rough labor of the frontier. His greatness was nourished by the same union Courtney describes: the shaping of the mind by teaching and the strengthening of the body by work.

The meaning of Courtney’s words is not pride in wealth or fame, but pride in honorable roots. By naming his parents’ professions, he reveals that he does not forget where he came from, nor does he pretend to have sprung into the world fully formed. He honors the teacher and the craftsman, the mind and the hand, the invisible labor that made his own path possible. In this humility lies a teaching for us all: that to honor one’s parents and their work is to acknowledge the deep currents that shape our destiny.

The lesson here is timeless: do not despise humble beginnings. The world often glorifies wealth, fame, and power, but the true foundation of life is built by those who teach and those who labor. If your parents were workers of any trade—farmers, nurses, teachers, builders—honor them, for their hands and hearts gave you the soil from which to grow. Greatness does not rest only in what one achieves, but also in how one remembers and honors the sources of their being.

Practically, let us live this truth by practicing gratitude. Speak well of those who raised you, even if their work was unglamorous. Recognize the nobility in their sacrifices, the greatness in their simplicity. And if you yourself are a teacher, a craftsman, or a worker of any kind, take pride in your calling, for you too are laying the foundations upon which others will stand.

Thus Jai Courtney’s words, plain and unadorned, shine with the wisdom of the ancients: honor the roots, for they sustain the tree. Whether they be teachers who shape the mind or laborers who light the world, they are the unseen architects of the future. And if we, like him, remember to name them with pride, then we too will walk in humility, strength, and gratitude—carrying forward their legacy in our own lives.