I was subbing in an art classroom today. Which means I had 5 different groups of students for an hour each. My very first class of the day was a group of 5th grade students. There was a boy in the class with some special needs, I could tell that right off the bat. I went through the activity and set them to work on a project. As they were working I noticed how wonderful another "macho" 5th grade boy was to this student with special needs. He was so sensitive, so sweet, so patient. As I was "watching" and over hearing what they were talking about a lump started to form in my throat. It was so wonderful to watch generosity and kindness acted out in front of my eyes. As I was taking a shower this evening the song "I know the heart of life is good" by John Mayer shuffled through on my iPod. It was the perfect song to hear after what I experienced today. Here's a bit of it:
...pain throws your heart to the ground
love turns the whole thing around
fear is a friend who's misunderstood
but i know the heart of life is good.
Another neat experience happened in the afternoon with a 3rd grade class. There was a little Indian boy in the class that I could CLEARLY tell had not lived in the US very long. I went up to him towards the end of the hour and asked. "How long have you been in the US?" He replied with, "3 weeks!" I then asked him "where did you live in India?" He replied with "Pune." I looked at him and said, "COOOOOL, that's where my husband went to college at!" (which Abhay did, that's where he got his undergrad degree at) I have never, ever, ever in my whole life seen a child smile so huge. He was so clearly THRILLED that I knew about Pune. Next I told him. "I've been to India. I been to Hyderabad. Do you know about Hyderabad? " He looked at me again with that huge grin and said, "Snow World is in Hyderabad!! I've been there."
I think I made his day, and he sorta made mine...
1 comment:
THAT is soooo TOUCHING, Mandy! It really gives spirit to the Thanksgiving holiday! That in situations where things might be less than ideal -being gifted or having just moved around te World- there's still sooooo much light to be found!!!
WONDERFUL!
Michelle
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