Highschool Experiment

She belittled her students, and grinned after talking about handing out F's. She seemed to thrive off intimidation. And I sat on the front row.
I rebelled, because that's what I do when people dictate my respones. Having recently read the first couple of books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time I liked the character Lan, who from what I remember, is a tough warrior who says little and shows his emotions even less. I had always admired such characters and so I decided to emulate them when I entered that teacher's classroom.
It was hard at first, but soon the moment I walked through the doors of B Period all emotion would drain from my face and there was nothing. On at least one occasion I remember the teacher telling a joke and as the class chuckled she looked directly at me and feeling nothing but obligation I quirked a lip. By refusing to show emotion I had almost lost the ability to feel emotion in that class.
At the end of the year I invited all of my school teachers to a dinner at my church that the youth were specifically hosting for all their teachers. She came and sat next to my parents and I ended up serving their table. At the end of the night (which including me spilling some salad on my dad) she told my parents that "she's shown more emotion tonight then in the whole year I've taught her."
I'm not quite sure why but during this whole experience I realized that although I was not harmed (insulted/intimidated) by my teacher I also lost the opportunity to have any positive emotions in that class and I decided although Lan may seem cool it is not actually cool to be someone with no emotion.
So, why are emotionless characters so common? They seem like they have become more common in some movies lately, but emotionless is not really anything anyone can actually relate too... unless some people are emotionless (but I don't believe they are). And aren't the best characters the ones you relate to?
It seems as if perhaps because emotions can cause problems or can make us vulnerable then people assume that having no emotion is the answer, but having no emotion means you can't be happy, and I like to be happy.
So, I have to admit I am grateful for that teacher, and the odd experiment I undertook, because now I know.

Side note: I think controlling your emotions is entirely different then embracing apathy, and controlling (bridling) your emotions is vital.