Learning at Lunch

Being a teacher is a wonderful job, especially if you enjoy people watching. Children have this ability to completely ignore the fact that someone else (someone who may be judging them) is around. For example, 7 seconds after the kids walk in the door, I become invisible as they talk to friends, gather books for the day, and use the restroom. When I break into their conversations to correct one of them or say Good Morning, its as if I have interrupted. When this talent of ignoring is playing out, I get to see them in their bare form of being. They drop the "please the teacher" charade when they forget I'm there. Watching them interact with no filter is a sometimes shocking, and always hilarious adventure.

Last Thursday, three of my students had earned enough pennies to eat lunch with me in the classroom if they so chose. They told me they were very excited to get to eat in our classroom because the cafeteria is too loud. I asked them if they wanted to sit at their own desks, or if we should sit all together. I don't want to force my company on them if they would rather not talk to me, but they are six and I am still a friend in their mind, so they eagerly clamor to all sit together!

We sit down and eat our lunches, comparing each others. The children have ice cream bars which they cannot open, so I do the honors. One girl eats her ice cream first. I ask her if she is going to eat the rest of her food, and she nods yes as if I am crazy. I forget how physically hungry my students are. They eat anything! And tell me multiple times during the day they are hungry. Some of them don't eat much at home, and don't bring a snack to school. Our school cafeteria does a good job of feeding them a delicious, filling lunch each day!

As we eat, I let the kids talk freely, not commenting much so they can be themselves. It is funny the personalities that come out. One talks the entire time. I know she is a talker already, but today she's going full blast. The talking is so persistent, the the boy next to me has to interrupt to get a word in edgewise! When he speaks up, he tells me about his family. He tells me sad and worrying things about his family, but the way he describes them is more factual than despairing. It saddens me to see the potential in this child, and hear about his family's troubles. I hope that despite their hardships, they focus on him and help him become all he can be.

The third child does not speak up much. She is generally quiet, and I have assumed it is because she does not speak much English. After lunch, I learn my assumptions is incorrect. She sits quietly as the other two children vie for my attention. When they get tired of me they talk to each other about things I don't know about (iCarly and Hannah Montana). While discussing Hannah Montana's house, my quiet girl loudly and confidently chimes in about the color of Hannah's bedroom. I look at her a bit shocked. She simply smiles at me and eats the rest of her food without a word. Whether or not she speaks much English, that is not holding her back. She is just one of those people who is quiet until they have something to say, much like my husband.

Some teachers don't like to let kids eat in their rooms, and I understand why. They are messy and clingy, and when I can take 25 minutes to myself during the day, I am happy to do it. But, I am glad my kids ate with me on Thursday. I need to see more into their lives. All it takes is 25 minutes with a child, and in that time, a world of information comes out.

Political Thoughts

Shane Claiborne's book Irristible Revolution is one of my favorite books! He pretty much sums up thoughts I have had since childhood. At every page I was nodding, thinking- Finally, someone who understands my feelings! So I found a website with some of his quotations from the book. This is great, because I didn't want to type it all up, but I did want to share some things he said on the ole blog.



"There are some things to die for but none to kill for. "

"Today the logic goes something like this: 'Calling a ruler Son of God is out of style. No one really does that nowadays. We can support a president while also worshiping Jesus as the Son of God.' But how is this possible? For one says that we must love our enemies, and the other says we must kill them; one promotes the economics of competition, while the other admonishes the forgiveness of debts. To which do we pledge allegiance?"

"One thing that's clear in the Scriptures is that the nations do not lead people to peace; rather, people lead the nations to peace."

"And that’s when things get messy. When people begin moving beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with the folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: “When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist.” Charity wins awards and applause but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for living out of love that disrupts the social order that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them."

"When we truly discover how to love our neighbor as our self, Capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary."

"Biological family is too small of a vision. Patriotism is far too myopic. A love for our own relatives and a love for the people of our own country are not bad things, but our love does not stop at the border."

"We are faithful not to the triumphant golden eagle (ironically, also an imperial symbol of power in Rome) but to the slaughtered Lamb."


In summation: un-nationalist, pacifist, alternatively economical, and radically loving. These ideas make my heart comfy.