Here's a short story from my classroom in Pohnpei.
I will always remember this.
This happened during my second month in Pohnpei. One afternoon during school, I heard one of my boys crying in the bathroom. Of course I was concerned! So, I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. My most talkative boy opened the door with wet hair and tears in his eyes. My initial thought was to be upset that he got himself all wet. It would have been easy to just scold him for getting water all over himself. However, I realized there was something greater at play. He was feeling very hurt and looked absolutely crushed. Here's what happened:
The other boys had used a comb and water to slick their hair back. They thought it looked so cool and they were just having fun together. All of the boys that did it had longer hair. This student had short hair and it was impossible for him to do the same thing. But, he tried. They weren't trying to be mean, but the other boys had laughed at him when he did. Of course, that hurt his feelings. So, he had gone into the bathroom to try and fix it. It still wasn't working out for him. He ended up getting very discouraged.
So, after he told me the story, I had another decision to make. Was I going to tell him it would never work? OR was I going to help him make it work? I decided to help him instead of discourage him. So, we went and combed his hair too. It was nothing extravagant, but it mattered to him. We took a couple pictures so he could see. When he saw the photo his sad expression suddenly turned into a little smile. He was content. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough.
That small incident stuck with me. It taught me two BIG lessons.
First, our actions and decisions can have a big impact on other people. My small decision to help him comb his hair, made a difference. He had given up, but I helped to give him hope again. It's so easy to help and encourage others! This was a big lesson as a teacher. It's easy to get upset and automatically scold students. However, they learn so much more if you encourage them and take the time to help them learn. Being a teacher is much more than just teaching our assigned subjects. If you're a teacher, you're teaching kids life lessons. You're helping them to learn who they are. You're showing them that they are loved and accepted. That's why I wanted to become a teacher. To show kids how valued and important they are. I was reminded of that through this event.
Now, my second lesson. Everybody is going through something. We all might have different life stories, but each person is dealing with something. Even our little ones. We all get sad sometimes. We all have our own struggles. Maybe this story is small in comparison to others, but it still matters. This talkative, bubbly child, was feeling completely devastated. He felt rejected. All it took was one person's decision to reach out to him, to completely change his outlook. Sometimes that's what we need. We need encouragement from the people around us. We need somebody that's willing to run to our side when we need help. That has motivated me to search for opportunities to make more decisions like this. Decisions I can make throughout my day. I want to ask myself this each morning, "How can I encourage the people around me?", "How can I reach out to them?", "How can I make a difference?"
Even our little actions and decisions can make or break somebody. So, how can you help the people around you? How can you bring encouragement into their lives? Think about the little things you can do to make a difference. BECAUSE, guess what... those little decisions DO make a difference.
Comments
Post a Comment