we take care of each other - part 2

sometimes the shorties forget our
only classroom rule:
"we take care of each other.
no exceptions. period."

it is understandable.
i mean, after all,
they ARE only 10.

in our morning circle today,
i asked them to share
one adjective
that revealed how they felt
at that moment.

happy,
tired,
broken,
(broken? did my shortie just say broken?
can you just rip my heart out, too?)
energized,
miserable,
bored,
sad,
and hopeful
were some of
the words i heard.

when asked what they noticed,
one shortie replied,
"we all feel differently."
another,
"some of us feel good
and some of us feel
rotten."

so i closed my eyes,
sighed deeply and said
that, for some of the kids in
our school, being at home can
really stink.
parents yell, curse and
beat their children.
outside, guns are shot,
dealers deal their
death sentences and
people are involved in their
own wars.

when i opened my eyes,
i looked around.
i looked into the knowing eyes of
some of my shorties and knew that
i had connected.

"can you imagine how these
children must feel when
they come to school?" i asked,
"and someone teases them,
or makes fun of them?"
i explained
that this means
that not only is their
home-life hurtful,
but coming to school
is painful, too.
"wouldn't it be nice if we
made our classroom a
safe place?
a place where we
feel accepted and loved?"
i offered.

one child said,
"sometimes, people are mean
to you because they are mad or sad."
"and then we are mean back to them,"
said another.

then the tears started.
tears of remorse for being
mean to a friend,
tears of release for
acknowledgement of
pain,
tears for seeing others' tears.

we all had a good cry.

my tears came when one of my
angels said,
"i want to give ms. kathleen kudos."
i looked up in surprise.
"because she always manages to
touch our hearts."

seriously.
a ten year old said that.
to me.

i am hopeful for our future.
i am touched beyond belief.