It happened to me again. A simple writing prompt sent shivers down my spine when it inspired a 7th grader to write a response that floored me. The prompt was simple: Who would you most like to buy for this Christmas? What would you get for them, and why would you buy for that person?
This time it did not happen until the last period of the day. I had heard my fill of things like video games for my mom, and vacations for my dad and others that involved special trips for the entire family minus the annoying little brother.
Well, I almost didn't let this young man share his, but thank God I did. He said that the person he would most like to buy for was his dad. I thought, Okay, that is about the 13th Dad today, no big deal. But I became intrigued when he said that the thing that he wanted his dad to have was a photo album of all of his pictures from when he was born to present. That sure did not seem like much of a "man" gift, so I asked him why he wanted to give his dad a photo album.
He said, "Mr. Gibson, I want my dad to have that because he left me when I was two days old, and I have not seen or heard from him since. I want him to have a chance to see his son."
I said, "But if your dad left you like that why in the world would you want him to have such a special gift?"
He answered, "Mr. Gibson, I am trying to forgive him."
2 comments:
Yeah.
Wow. Thanks for the story. It reminds of what I do miss about teaching. There are a lot of things that I don't miss, but there are some really special moments, like yours, that are a reminder of why I ever got into education in the first place. I miss those moments. God bless.
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