Humble Pie, Please

I should be writing more about the kids at school, because I sure am learning a lot from them...a lot about resilience. These are some things that have happened recently that have really touched me:

One of our students came up to me the other day and told me that she and her mother would like to get me a Christmas present. That would be great, except this student and her family, unknown to her, are our school's recipient of the Adopt-A-Family presents. In a school of 600 students, her family was one of two singled out for help. This family has 4-5 kids, and sometimes no running water. She comes to school with dirty clothes and greasy hair, and has had several reoccurences of lice because her family can't afford the shampoo. I said to her, "You don't have to get me anything. Don't! Tell your mother that I don't need anything." She forged on, saying, "What do you like?" I said to her, "What I would like the most is a picture from you." I think she liked that idea, and skipped off to her desk. How sweet is that?

I was reading another student's writing project the other day. It was about a "lightbulb moment" or a time when they learned something new. This is what this young 10 year old girl wrote (about riding her bike):

"I learned that you can accomplish something you really want to. Also, I remember that day because it is the day my sister died in the car wreck."

It is so sad to me that such a sweet accomplishment was darkened by something so horrible and memorable.

Another student told us today that he drinks coffee every morning and eats Apple Jacks for breakfast. That sure does explain his "energetic" behavior. He sure is a cute kid. Yesterday his Grandpa had to pick his brother and him up because the heat stopped working at his mother's house. He has come in late several times because he has been visiting his father in jail. His dad was arrested for DWI, and just received three more years in jail. His mother is now raising two boys alone.

I don't tell these stories to depress anyone (or myself). I just like to remind myself how blessed I am, for one, and two, that these kids NEED structure, they NEED kind words, they NEED the benefit of the doubt sometimes. They remind me that in the face of really hard things, there are always ways to be happy and hopeful.