Last week I did my English Club (3rd-6th grades). It was "Women's Day" so we made cards for our mothers. I had a little poem in English that they copied, then I had a stack of pictures they could color, some bright card stock to paste them to, and some bright markers. Oh, my. They colored and colored and were so full of joy and light. Their lives are so drab and dark and they are just small children. The school is pure ugliness, no beauty anywhere, no bright posters on the walls. The kids shone for that hour like little stars. Their eyes were so bright and they held up their pictures, "Look, Ms Lora! Look, look!" We had vases of brightly colored flowers, roses, parrots, outdoor scenes. It felt like the world was alive, like one of those Coca cola ads that begins in black and white and sprouts curls of color everywhere. Even the dear 21-year-old teacher asked if she could have a picture to color and when she hadn't finished by the end of class she asked if she could take 3 markers home with her.
Then class ended and we stepped out the door. All of a sudden my soul was again flooded with the ugly, colorless world outside. I felt assaulted and I realized that they do too. I wished I could go to the store and buy buckets of bright paint and run through the town splashing it on everything in sight.
So that's my story. I know I bring joy here. I bring color and aliveness. And I'm leaving. I know I'll leave an empty spot with them and an empty spot in myself. A task unfinished.
No comments:
Post a Comment