Compassion

Enjoying a Warm Winter Day, a photo by Justin and Kelly Webb on Flickr.

Caleb came home from school today with a memo in his hand and a sad story to tell. The mother of one of his classmates had died. She died in a car accident I was reading about in the paper while I was waiting in line to pick him up. The boy was in his Kindergarten classroom as well, and since I volunteered in his class, I know him fairly well and always just kinda felt sorry for him. Super sweet and nice kid, but something about him made me sad. Now I feel even more sorrow for him.

Caleb read the letter from his teacher on the ride home and I was able to ask a few questions. And although my heart just aches for this kid, a few things about this conversation warmed my heart.
- The teacher allowed them to pray in class...in a public school. In 2012. It wasn't a prayer said aloud, but she gave them all a chance to pray and according to Caleb, she prayed as well. This made me feel sooo good.
- Caleb said she asked if anyone wanted to share how they felt and Caleb said "I just want to go to church so I can get down on my knees and pray for Ethan." I thought this was such a mature and wonderful response.
- When we got home, Sam, who was very silent in the car, went directly to our drawer that is overflowing with markers and paper and he started making a picture. I asked what he was doing and he didn't answer and he wanted to keep his artwork to himself. I left him alone and a few minutes later he walked over to Caleb and whispered "This is for Ethan. Please give it to him. I think it's so so sad." Of course this brought tears to my eyes and after I was certain I could speak w/o a quivering voice, I told him how thoughtful it was to do that for Ethan.
- Caleb made him a really nice card and wrote him such a sweet message. I was proud of both of them for doing this w/o any suggestion from me....to me this really showed compassion. They truly felt badly for this boy and they really want him to feel better. Especially Sam (who sometimes I have to wonder if he HAS compassion for others) had no idea who this boy is, yet felt such sorrow for him and wanted to do something the second he walked in the door. No DS, no Wii, no TV, no Star Wars...just making something for a stranger who lost his mom.