Today I... Taught Taut

Today I found myself - if only for a moment - holding back tears whilst teaching a class of eight year old boys. Before you read on, may I clarify that I am not an overly-sensitive soul, but when a tiny hand reaches up and tugs those ol' heart-strings of yours...son, you have a good ol' fashioned fight on your hands. So let me explain myself...

Firstly, it was 8:30 on a saturday morning, so it was natural to have those early morning wet eyes that longed for lost sleep. Freshly rose, I sauntered into a classroom to find five excitable Greek boys, chibbering in their native tongue and splurting small showers of cheesy pastries onto the floor. Needless to say, this is a very challenging Saturday morning. Especially over a drowsy two hour period. There was something out of place, however. Amongst the rattle and shake of my students was an element of grey.

In the corner sat one of the students; vacant and silent. Usually this boy would be as vibrant as his other classmates, but he is lost in thought. His mind with his absent friend, in hospital, very ill. The gravity of the situation seemed a heavy burden on his young soul. It was this thought that I found difficult to fathom. That someone so small and innocent could be held by such a horrific tribulation. He is far too young to consider such thought; his friend too young to live them.