One there is, above all others,
Well deserves the name of Friend;
His is love beyond a brother's,
Costly, free, and knows no end:
They who once His kindness prove
Find it everlasting love.
The Second Quarter flew by; I blinked and it was gone. It always takes me by surprise how fast a school year goes. It's like the school year is on wheels going down a hill, gradually picking up speed until before you know it, it's graduation time again. Tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of our quarter exams, but classes were suspended for tomorrow because of Typhoon Lando.
This quarter, I opted not to teach Jane Eyre again for this batch because it didn't seem right for their needs. Instead, I decided to try out Kite Runner on them. It's a hard book to go through for some kids who live more sheltered lives. There are parts that are somewhat graphic and definitely difficult to read, no matter how sheltered you are. I decided to do it to try to expose them to some of the realities of the world outside their little box as their knowledge of the outside world is surprisingly limited. We started the year with some essential questions, two of them being "What is wrong with the world?" and "What is a human being?" We were able to address those questions with To Kill a Mockingbird in the first quarter, but even more so in the second.
One thing that came out in their reader-response journals was that they were surprised that people could be capable of such terrible sins. The other thing that came out was their sense of self-righteous disapproval of the main character, Amir, for his cowardice, and the fact that they would be like the other main character, Hassan, who was always loyal to his friend. One of the prompts asked them if they thought they were more of an Amir or a Hassan and almost all of them easily said that they would never, ever betray a friend like Amir did. Only a few were honest enough to say that they would want to be like Hassan, but they'd probably end up being selfish like Amir. Worse than this, though, were the kids who latched on to Rahim Khan's statement, "There is a way to be good again" and talked about how there is always hope and you can always atone for your mistakes. I discussed with them that the saddest part about the book is not even the plot but that the whole story is about a man who seeks to atone for his sins apart from Christ. The journals were good opportunities to try to insert gospel truth into their convoluted thoughts and misconceptions about the gospel.
For the final journal entry, I gave them the option of just writing what they had learned. One student chose to write on the theme of love. She starts off her entry talking about how 'love' is a word that is overly used and is more than just a feeling. She talks about how love isn't really simple, as seen in Kite Runner. She admires the example of sacrificial love that Hassan shows time and time again, 'a thousand times over' for Amir. She concludes on a personal level, but she mentions asking God to 'help her change herself' to love others more. Naturally, I took that as an opportunity to give her unsolicited advice about love, the greatest model of true love, and the inability to change ourselves. But her entry was a good reminder for me personally, especially at the end of this quarter when the kids' issues start to crop up.
Love is not simple.
Love is costly.
Love is tough.
Love is an action.
The batch I'm currently teaching is not new to me. I had them back in 2012 when they were in 6th grade. It was my first homeroom class and my class was the notorious one for issues: behavioral, emotional, and academic. They've been called the drama batch, the YOLO batch, the Swag batch. They tend to gang up against teachers. They only obey if they see the reason. They defy authority. They believe in unity, even if it's in trouble. But they also respond to love, and with the passion that they can hate, they also can love. But it's a tricky task sometimes, getting their hearts, gaining their trust, and still giving them the punishment that they also sometimes deserve. They're the batch that has taught me more about love than any of the other batches. For some reason, I've always been close to them. Unfortunately, when you're close, you run the risk of them becoming way too familiar with you. They can be frustrating with their disrespect and their drama. You give them your trust and they turn around and break it. You love them and give them grace and they go and abuse it. They can be stubborn and hard-headed. But then I think of my own self.
Could we bear from one another
What He daily bears from us?
Yet this glorious Friend and Brother
Loves us though we treat Him thus:
Though for good we render ill,
He accounts us brethren still.
Loving my students when they are the most unloving is tough, but how can I not in light of God's great love that is bestowed upon me? It's an unwritten part of my contract: I must love my students because I am loved of Christ.
Praise God indeed for His continual breaking, humbling, molding, and keeping of His children, and praise God for the opportunity to seek to live out this love before these precious young people. I only pray that He would work in their hearts and bring them to true repentance for His glory alone. And may I--may we--love Christ supremely above all our earthly affections, counting earthly gain but dross, living in this world but waiting and hoping for the world to come.
O for grace our hearts to soften!
Teach us, Lord, at length to love;
We, alas! forget too often
What a Friend we have above:
But when home our souls are brought,
We will love Thee as we ought.
