The sweetest gift

I have had the pleasure of working with some super stars this week to get them ready for their STAAR re-takes in a week and a half. This one boy just came to us a few weeks ago, and he and his Mom are on the run and staying at the women's crisis shelter in town. He came to me today with a very old, tattered book and told me he had found it at a house he was staying at once before they tore it down. He told me he gives his favorite teachers a page from it and wanted me to have one. Knowing his tough, tough home life I was thrilled. He delicately tore out a page and signed it and gave it to me. As he handed it over, he said the whole book teaches you how to speak and read Chinese. I am the fortunate one... I can now ask any native speaker if they are constipated. AND offer them a laxative. It was especially extra special because this kiddo doesn't read well enough to even fathom give me a page with the word constipated on it... much less know what aperient means. All week he's been wanting me to call him Eddie Murphy. You can bet I have. Has it made a difference? I am sure of it. Just sitting here, I think about all the other misfits I am expected to get to pass a test in 8 school days.... One whose father shot himself playing Russian roulette in front of him when he was a baby.... one who has a lengthy note on file about how his father has relinquished all parental rights and how he is not allowed to step foot in the building, yet this child is named after him.... One whose mother and 2 sisters were killed in a car accident 3 years ago, leaving her and her dad. One whose grandmother just died in Mexico, so he won't get to even take the second try of the test.... One who lives with an uncle, and isn't allowed to see his mom. One who has been taken away from mom because her mother's boyfriend molested her-- and mom didn't try to stop it. It cuts my heart up like a knife. The worst part? That's only just a few. These babies come in and out of my room and the whole world is on their shoulders. I just try to at least give them a little bit of hope.