For they shall be called the children of God

I went out on the yard today to speak with a coworker.  My most challenging student happened to run by, and so I called out, "Hey, handsome, how you doing?" OK, I don't usually address my students as "handsome," but he was wearing a school-appropriate shirt for the first time in weeks, and I wanted to be encouraging. He came right up to me and let me put my arm around him, and then I saw that he was on the verge of tears. His chin was down and his hands were balled tightly into fists.

"What's up? I can see you're upset." 

No words yet. Then an older boy from the other school that shares our site came over. "What's up, D?" the other boy said as he looked gently into my student's face. He took one of D's hands, gently smoothed out the fist, and did the same with the other hand. "You all right, man? OK then." And he ran off to get in line to go to class.

Another student of mine came up and said, "What's wrong with you?" which sounds a little harsh, but he said it so gently that D didn't seem to mind. Then he finally told us that someone in his family had been in a car accident. We talked a little more about it, and then the boys ran off to play a little before the bell rang.

Blessed are the peacemakers.