Dear Teacher with the New Kid,
"On the toughest days I hope I remember what a darn big blessing in life it is to get to witness humanity at its best."
That was the closing line of the email she sent me regarding the new student in her class, the military kid who recently moved here and is having a tough time adjusting. She knows because he's been in tears several times already.
Friday they had a game day to unwind after exams. She assigned groups, and they played Uno, Life, and Sorry, which was a mere coincidence, but she really was sorry about his life- his sorry life- as he described it when he returned the game at the end of class. He began to weep. It broke her heart.
She sent him to guidance to see if they could help. While he was gone, she explained he was having a hard time and urged the class to think of times in their lives when they needed a friend. The truth was a few of them were misfits and needed a friend, as much, or even more, than he did.
The next day at the start of class, three boys greeted him by name. Another girl asked if he was having a good day. When it came time to pick partners for the group activity, a burly boy in a faded, camouflage jacket who mostly communicates in grunts asked, plain as day, if he would like a partner.
The teacher excused herself to get something from the closet and to wipe away the tears that fertilized the hope she thought might never return from the school year that had robbed so much.
The new kid never knew about the private conversation the teacher had with the class, but he still reaped the benefits of the seeds she sowed when she modeled what humanity looks like at its best.
She is right. Sometimes humanity at its best looks like a bunch of rough neck teenagers who step outside themselves long enough to see the new kid, and sometimes it looks like an ordinary teacher with an extraordinary gift of seeing the very best in others.
I am blessed to know her for many reasons, one of which is how she always makes me ask myself important questions like, "How can I help those around me prosper like she does?"
-CDB