Tal Carmel, 136 YinD
I cried in class…
No, it’s not what you think. I wanted to write about something happy, an aspect of my job that’s fulfilling: watching a child come out of their shell and feel safe enough to try to be included.
There is nothing more rewarding than seeing growth firsthand, and I witnessed it one Monday. I’ve been going to my various schools for about 6 weeks now (at the time of writing this), and have special needs kids at 2 of them. On Mondays I go to one of the schools with those children, and usually, I’m just encouraged to let them be. To not ask them to participate and just to let them float in and out of class as they want.
But I am not someone who will encourage isolation and allow anyone, much less a child, to feel as though their presence doesn’t matter. Even if I’m shrugged at every time I ask if they want to participate, I will never stop asking. This past Monday, I was rewarded when not only did this particular student want to participate in our game, but she also wanted to volunteer as the tagger.
Watching her play with her peers, watching them accept her participation, even if it wasn’t going to help them win, and watching the pure joy on her face as she ran around… made my heart swell and my eyes “leak”.
A pure moment that makes all of the “adjustment” struggles vanish and grounds you back into what matters.
Sticky Rice 