Humans of Liberty North: Ryan Dahm

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With family being the foundation of society, science teacher and North Nation by Design teacher Ryan Dahm  knows how it can easily break apart. Though his students only see him as a high school biology teacher, he actually has a very complex and interesting past. 

“Really the first defining moment that I experienced was my parents divorce,” Dahm said.

He goes back to sixth grade to recall the memory of when they told him and his brother,   

“I remember that fondly because obviously it was such a dramatic change,” Dahm said.   

He talks about the idolization of his family changing with the drastic event, 

“and I guess the silly thing is that I always look back and think, ‘that could never happen to me. That just wouldn’t make sense, my parents are perfect, my family’s perfect.’ You just don’t ever really see the other reality until you live it. I always look back and see the impact it had on me and my entire life. What it led to and who I became and how it really defined my identity of who I am through the rest of my life,” Dahm said.

He brings up the challenges of being place in this situation, including the shifting of blame onto himself, 

“It’s kind of that moment where you’re trying to find what led to that, and if it had anything to do with you, and it’s just breaking apart everything that you ever knew about life and family,” Dahm said.

Dahm also talks about the bittersweet of this dramatic change, 

“It drove me to a point where I realized that I was not capable of sustaining life on my own, all of my worth had been tied up into this family structure. It pushed me into seeing that life was more than just the scene and the things we have around us,” Dahm said.

He explains how it led him to more key aspects of his life, 

“It showed me in the direction of my faith that has become, and continued to be my guiding light,” Dahm said.

 Dahm clarifies how family is at the forefront of the social pyramid,

“As people we have a perception of how the world should look. So, being a kid, who grew up in church and always around kind of a Christian worldview, the expectation was that it would ALWAYS be mom and dad. There couldn’t be bigger problems that could tear that apart. So that was what every kid’s expectation of life had to be in my eyes. In at least my belief, that family structure should be that, you know, two parents. When that blew up though and became something different, it was hard to wrap my brain around,” Dahm said.

Want to learn more about Ryan Dahm? Catch him below in Meadow’s podcast Magic Eye Poster:

Podcast by Meadow Robertson