Kindness is King

Our second graders have battled germs all week, and I thought I would come out unscathed, but I got sick, too! So, I had to call out sick yesterday. I woke up yesterday morning at my house in Newtown around 7 am. I finished my lesson plans for next week and began to think about a reflection paper all beginning teachers need to write for the state of Connecticut. When 9 am rolled around, my heart dropped into my stomach and it has been there ever since.  I happily bobbed through the halls of those lovely Newtown schools as a first grader on through high school graduation. I learned much about the craft of teaching through my internships and student teaching from the wonderful teachers in those classrooms. My town, in minutes, was shattered by this really unfathomable atrocity.

As I stood in Sandy Hook last night at a vigil--and all day, really--I couldn't help but think about our second graders. Our smart, funny, clever, wonderful second graders, and how thankful I am that they are safe. I put my hand over my mouth and hung my head low when I empathized with the teachers and students at Sandy Hook yesterday morning and just could not, not, not imagine having to go through that. It hit too close to home. It is my home. But now that I have your 16 second graders in tow, my heart broke all the harder.

So on this Saturday morning, I am thinking about all the beliefs I hold dear as a teacher and all the qualities I hold dear in your children. I think about the words I speak to them and the culture of caring we work to establish. I think about the fact that though in the moment the kind words we speak in our room can be short and easy to say and might not seem to matter, their echos are endless. And though I might not bear the fruits of our tireless work of scaffolding kindness in our kids years down the road, I know that our second graders are good people at their core. And I rest assured that they do know--and will continue to know--that our world is a good place. And that they are safe. And cared for. So here's to our students today, who will grow up to make our world a better place and know that sorrow and evil doesn't win, but that kindness is king.