Hans has a classmate who lives a little diagonally across from us - it takes less than a minute’s walk from our door to their door. I think the mom is great and always lamented the fact that Hans hated the boy’s guts. We, the moms, wondered if our boys would ever get along.
When the pandemic was declared in March and Toronto went into lockdown, Hans would see this boy ride around the neighbourhood on his own. Strangely, Hans also rode around the neighbourhood by himself. An entire summer went by and the boys didn’t cross paths. Then school started and the boys were in the same class after a year’s break. Hans expressed some disappointment. I also felt a bit of disappointment that even a year’s break didn’t change Hans’ perspective on this boy.
At the beginning of this month, I observed Hans take a different route to his school. This route was the one that he avoided as it takes him in front of this boy’s home, and Hans didn’t want any awkward encounters. However, I noticed that Hans actually looked at the door of this boy’s home as he walked past it. Nothing actually happened for a couple of days and then one day, the boy came running out of his home screaming for Hans to wait for him. Hans walked back to meet him half way and then the boys walked to school together.
I cannot describe the joy I felt watching Hans walk with another child his age. It has been so isolating during the last 9 months, and it was wonderful to see Hans NOT walk alone.
A few minutes ago, we drove past this boy’s home and I saw his mother in the driveway. I asked Craigley to “roll down the window” and then I shouted to her, “Our boys are walking together!”. She smiled the biggest smile.
She had the same joy on her face that I felt a few days ago.
One of my students recently remarked that it is not easy to be happy these days. I agreed with her. However, I told her and the rest of the class that we can try doing things that make us feel good about life - we can give someone a second chance or we can say a kind word or two to anyone when we can.
Small deeds can have big impacts.
No comments:
Post a Comment