She will not be at her husband's side on Wednesday evening, October 21, in the main courtyard of the Sorbonne, for the tribute ceremony to Samuel Paty.
Forced into isolation since she was declared a Covid-19 contact case on Monday, and for at least seven days, Brigitte Macron nevertheless wanted to salute the memory of the history and geography professor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine murdered Friday.
By taking the pen herself, through a letter sent to Le Parisien-Today in France, and soberly entitled: "Etre prof".
A few lines, written after having met the family of the deceased Monday morning at the Elysee Palace, and to testify in a personal capacity of his gratitude and his support towards those close to Samuel Paty, and more generally the whole teaching community (more than 800,000 people ).
The former French teacher, who held classes for thirty years in Strasbourg, Amiens then Paris, still teaches: since last year, she has been giving literature lessons to adults in Clichy-sous-Bois ( Saint Saint-Denis), within the Institute of vocations for employment (Live).
"Prof. be is transmitted and anticipate, prepare lessons with special attention because each lesson is important
[...]
it is a spot light that we could turn into the eyes of the students
[...]
c ' is to develop their critical thinking to make them free.
All this, Samuel, you knew it, and better still, you embodied it, ”writes the First Lady, addressing the murdered professor as a colleague, calling him by his first name.
"She never left the classrooms"
Last Friday, according to our information, it was in a train, when she was returning from a two-day trip to Valence (Drôme), where she plans to create an annex of Live, that she learned of this tragedy.
Four days earlier, she was herself in a college in Yvelines, in Chesnay-Rocquencourt, to read the annual dictation of the Ela association, which fights against leukodystrophy.
"She has never left the classrooms and she still considers herself a teacher even though she is today the wife of the President of the Republic", insists her entourage.
The initiative for this letter is unprecedented.
“She was always a part of the tributes, but she never got involved like that in writing such a message.
It was very important for her to put down in words what she is feeling at the moment, ”we say.
Isolated in the private apartments of the Elysee Palace, Brigitte Macron, who at this stage has no symptoms of the disease, will therefore follow the ceremony by watching television.
In his speech, the Head of State will also pay tribute to the teaching staff, "he will reaffirm the values of the Republic and the attachment of the entire nation to its teachers", confides an advisor.
“Today, with you, we are all teachers”, concludes the First Lady in her message to Samuel Paty.
Brigitte Macron's tribute to Samuel Paty
Being a teacher
“It is transmitting and anticipating, preparing lessons with particular attention, because each lesson is important;
It is entering a class and feeling in it right place;
It is spotting a light that we have been able to light in the eyes of the pupils, it is also noticing when they drop out and going to collect them;
It is being happy when you have made them react to what moves you;
It is having ambition for them and opening the doors to them because those of the mind and of knowledge are infinite;
It is developing their critical mind to make them free.
All of this, Samuel, you knew, and better yet, you embodied it.
Because you had the highest idea of what the teaching profession is.
Your family has testified to us, to the President of the Republic and to myself, of your great demands and your extreme tolerance.
Their dignity overwhelmed us.
Today with you we are all Profs.
"
Brigitte Macron
