Elementary Love

I was looking through the pictures that I took on Julianna's field trip. Looking for one that represented the day. This is the one that stood out. You can barely see Julianna in the middle of her two friends. But I can see her smile. Her joy. It was taken on the tractor ride around the flower fields as the girls were giggling and singing a song about dirt (which was later stuck in my head, no matter how hard I tried to shake it). I love to go on my kids field trips, and help in their classes. It is the best way to see how they act around their peers, and who these peers are, that will so greatly influence them. On this day I noticed the kindness of these first graders. It stood out to me. There was no fighting. No arguing. No tattling. Instead there was only hand holding, and it wasn't just girls! I watched as a little girl gave her favorite chips to a boy, because he was still hungry. I saw one boy in tears as he had no "buddy" for the maze, and before the teacher could even ask, a little girl volunteered.

Even now as I write this, I wonder when we lose such a capacity for love. The love shown to me through a first grade class. The love that brought me to tears as later, in the classroom, I watched a group of kids huddle around a boy that was crying over a lost pencil. I saw them all scramble to give him one of their own pencils, and hug him. A few boys pulled up a chair next to him and kept their hands on his back! Yep, I said boys! Not just sensitive, emotional girls.....but boys too.

The teacher later told me that this might be the most loving class she has had. That no matter who is hurting, boy or girl, they all show deep concern for their friends. She told me she battles tears daily as she watches such acts of love. She said she is humbled by them, and they have taught her more than she has this year. I can only hope, as she did, that they never lose this capacity for love. There is a quote..."the only thing harder than hatred is love". This seems so true for us adults. Negative, nasty adults, that forget to look beyond ourselves for our friends that are crying over lost pencils.