That track lady...

What a day!!! today was one of those days that makes me feel so fortunate to have the job I have... the opportunity to work with kids... it really is a gift... first... to update you on the kid at track last night... I took the clothes into school today and as planned gave them to the nurse. She knows this kid well and filled me in on some of the details... WOW... in addition to being displaced by hurricane Katrina he has a rare eye condition that has caused complete blindness in one eye and will most likely cause blindness in the other in time... There are some learning issues, some OCD issues..and he is a bit defensive about his small stature... wow... how much for one kid to deal with. Anyway... when he came to see the nurse today she had him try on the clothes... he asked where they came from and she kind of shrugged and he said... I know... it was that track lady... the nurse neither denied or validated this statement. Another teacher brought in a gym bag for him to have... and he was thrilled with it. At practice today he looked sooo cute... in his new clothes. (By the way, I did get the school to reimburse me, as a nice gesture to make for one of our students... ) At practice this kid was like my shadow... constantly asking me questions... and he apologized for being upset and rude yesterday... I told him I appreciate that and told him I was impressed that he would return to practice today after having a hard time ... that it took guts for him to do that. That was enough to make me happy with life... but in addition to that I had an AMAZING conversation with three of my students today. They came to my last class of the day and we were supposed to do math... however in their previous class they had begun a discussion about discrimination... they had talked about how we each face discrmination... more so for some of the students... one boy who is deaf apparently shared a lot of insight... he is not in my class so I was not fortunate enough to hear what he had to say... One of the other students who is in my class is African American... not in the politically correct way... but in the way of he was born in Africa and lived there for the first five years of his life. He shared some of his experiences and it was amazing. The other two students, who I will classify as caucaision for the purpose of this story, in my group also shared things... their honesty was beautiful... one of the boys admitted that he thought that people were black because they had stayed in the sun too long and were really tan... and thought that if a black person laid in the snow...they would return to their normal color... interesting. The African American student eloquently described his experiences... and how when he first learned about what Americans had done to his people, Africans, he was angry and hated Americans... all Americans... even though it had happened so long ago. I asked him how he got past that anger and he told me that a kid in one of his classes, a white kid, was super nice to him and he was confused by it. Confused that someone who he perceived as hating him would offer him kindness... and he said it was then that he realized that just because people hated him, he didn't need to hate them. There it is... just because people hated him, he didn't need to hate them.He shared stories from Africa.. remembering drinking muddy water after it had rained and feeling grateful for having water to drink... he remembers being hungry... and told us how he cannot leave food on his plate, even if he is full... because it is wasteful. He said... that people can be racist... that he believes that eventually they will know someone who is black and will learn to not hate... he has faith in this. He mentioned seeing Obama, a black man, running for president and how hard tha tis for him to believe... that learning how this country has treated Africans and other black people... he is in awe... to see someone on the television, running for president...someone with whom he has at least one thing in common...but he was fearful for Obama... saying that this country assassinates black leaders and he doesn't want that to happen to Obama... There were times the discussion almost made me cry...because this kids was so articulate...and his ideas... so basic, so simple...so RIGHT... are beautiful... beautiful. I was so glad he was in my class.. .that I got to know him... get to know him... and so happy that his classmates know him and can learn from him. It was a learning opportunity...and what lessons he taught...I am thankful today... for being a teacher and a coach.

Thankful... I am also thankful that I went to the gym this afternoon...and did 0.8 miles on the elliptical in preparation for Friday's 1 mile goal... thankful that I got to spend some time with friends tonight...got to go out for dinner and just visit...with sue, Sara, and Melissa...

Thankful...