Thanks for Giving

It's encouraging to see the number of truly caring, giving people there are in the world. I could easily be talking about my blog friends, but in this case I'm not. =)

Like most children, my daughter started kindergarten at age 5. That same year, my son also started attending public school. He was only 3. I'll skip the details and just say he was diagnosed as "speech delayed" by an unjustifiably smug school psychologist ("Your son is too young to know the alphabet. He knows the song, but he doesn't know the letters." Over the next 30 minutes he made her eat those words. :P).

The local school district wasn't very good in general, but they did have an excellent TAG program and a great special education program. That worked out well for my kids. The closest special education center was nearby, but served most of the school district--it brought kids in from all over. My son received wonderful attention there and I received an education. My experiences at the school were a combination of very rewarding and heart-breaking.

My family was relatively poor, but we had a huge extended family that recycled clothes and shared home-grown fruits and vegetables--and we had places to hunt and fish. Thanks to all of that, I didn't know we were poor. At my son's school, I met kids who knew they were poor and who lived in areas over-run with drugs and violence. Kids who only ate at school and got most of their clothes through the school. Kids who spent the night in cars because it was safer than sleeping in their parents' crack houses. And then there were the kids who were disabled for reasons I'm not going to share. Too upsetting. I know much of the world looks down on the US for still having a death penalty, but...

Anyway, the staff at the school was amazing, teaching and helping the students every day. They gave them much more than just an education. The teachers, the office staff, the lunch lady, etc., etc., went above and beyond. As the weather turned cold, coats magically appeared. They regularly brought food in to send home with the kids--especially on Fridays. While most workers look forward to three day weekends and a break at Christmas, you could see the worry on the school employee's faces. What's going to happen to "Tommy" or "Jane" when school is closed?

As important, they also gave the kids something many of them never had before: healthy, positive attention from stable, caring, people. I'm not saying the kids' families don't love them, but many are so messed up themselves they have only negative influences to give their children. That's worse than the poverty--to me.

So, this Thanksgiving I want to say thank you to all the teachers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, secretaries, janitors, lunch ladies and yes, even the school psychologists (most of them anyway) who help disadvantaged and disabled children learn and grow. They're inspiring, special people who help inspiring, special people.

PS - And I also want to offer kudos to my blog friends--I've witnessed your generous spirits and, well, it gives me a little more hope for humanity. =)


"Imagine all the people, sharing all the world."