The little girl stank.
Literally.
Our son Christopher wanted to have nothing to do with her. She was a girl in his second grade class who had no friends. No one wanted to be close to someone with her odor.
Some of our son's friends called her derogatory names. Some mistreated her, tripping her when she walked by or "accidentally" running into her on the playground.
Christopher knew better than to do anything that would get himself into trouble. He avoided the temptation to mistreat the little girl. But he didn't like her. He did not like her smell. And he could not bring himself to intervene when she was being picked on by other kids.
After a few weeks in school, we discovered the cause of her smell. The girl had a medical condition preventing her from completely controlling her bladder. Sometimes she would wet herself.
She could not prevent an occasional accident; and it made her life difficult.
When Christopher found out about her medical condition, he still did not like this little girl. However, he began to ask us, "Do you feel sorry for ________? She doesn't have any friends." Slowly, he began to empathize with his classmate. He began to think about what life would be like for him if he could not control his ability to go to the bathroom when needed. He began to realize that he might have problems in making friends. He started to understand that he might be defensive, too, if he were called names or picked on by other kids all the time.
It took a long time, but near the end of the school year, Christopher announced to us one evening, "___________ and I are allies now." (He refers to his friends as his "allies".) He had convinced a few other boys in his class to accept the girl into their group. He had risked the rejection of his friends in order to bring an ostracized little girl into his group.
For the first time as a second grade student, the girl had "allies". She had a group who accepted her. She had a few boys who would defend her rather than mistreat her.
It was our son's finest moment.
12 comments:
Love it! Awesome awesome! Such an incredible amount of character at a young age. You're very blessed.
--guy
Finest moment indeed. What courage your son has - to face possible rejection from his own friends to stand by a friendless girl.
That's awesome.
Thank you, Guy and D.J.! I was very proud of Christopher. I knew that it was a difficult step for him to take.
I got teary-eyed when reading this. That is a great example of what our Lord means when He tells us to "Love your neighbor as yourself". Hallelujah, Christopher! God bless you, and may you continue to be a light in all the darkness of this world!
It is no surprise to me that Christopher would have a heart like he does, after all, look at his loving and compassionate parents. Good job!
A shining moment for Christopher - letting the Light of Jesus break through like that!! Awesome. ;0)
Thanks Lydia, Lynne, and Christy!
Christopher is a beautiful example of what Jesus meant when He said, " greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for another. " He wasn't talking about dying only. He was also talking about stopping what we're doing and standing up for others. Christopher "nailed" that lesson better than many adults 4 and 5 times his age. "And a child shall lead them. ". And the people said, AMEN!!!!!!
A VERY fine moment. And that good make all the difference in that little girl's life. Good job, Christopher.
Thank you, Warren and everyone else! Christopher is surprised to learn about the response to this. He did not realize that he had done anything special. Thank you for helping to encourage him to keep doing good!
That is one fine boy...and how wonderful an example.
I know what it's like when you're a young kid and teased, stared at and in general made to feel like an outcast.
By the way, you have my blog listed (Balanced and Unafraid). I'm trying to do away w/that and have a new one that I can manage a tad better. Please list it and you might want to take a look/read see. I think you'll like it:
http://vvascasbalancedheart.blogspot.com
Title is Balanced & Fearless Heart
Thank you, Vasca. I will.
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