I like my job teaching high school. So much so that even with all the nonsense that comes from legislatures, the Department of Education, or from the sometimes less than stable emotionally driven attitudes of 17-year-olds, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I've never been and will never be one to complain about the relatively low salary of teaching compared to other jobs that require a professional degree. There are just too many perks that balance it all out in my mind.
But if there are two things I would change if I could:
- Mondays. I hate them with a passion. That feeling on Sunday evening when night is approaching and you realize the weekend is over, and you have to force yourself into another week is bad enough. But the day itself always drags. I'm slow, kids are slow, no one wants to be there. It's rough.
- Kids being cruel to one another. It's hard to watch. I hate seeing a kid mistreated, even if it doesn't amount to bullying. Years ago, it would be seeing a kid pretending like he was on the payphone at lunch because he didn't have anyone to sit with. These days it's kids lashing out because someone made a fake social media account just to make fun of him. I hate it.
So when I first saw this video, I cringed fearing that I was about to see another one of those viral bullying or fighting clips filmed from these near war-zones that we call public schools. A group of popular, cool high school boys approaching a Down syndrome boy sitting at his desk? And not just any Down syndrome boy, but one that has an absolute fascination with small Hot Wheel cars.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time around teenagers and public schools these days realizes that all could be a recipe for heartbreaking disaster. Instead, it was the precise opposite.
So allow me to do you the favor of starting this week off combatting both of those things I hate so much with a glorious scene from a high school cafeteria not far from you:
A few years ago, a movement began in my home state of Indiana called "Just be kind." It was initiated by a group of teenagers, in fact, who sold signs, T-shirts, and more. The point of it was pretty clear: the world would be a better place if we would all just be kind to one another.
It's a simple slogan, a simple premise, a simple concept, and incredibly difficult to embrace and embody. With all the pain, conflict, betrayal, illness, and disagreements we have as humans, with all the selfish sin that routinely tempts and traps us, it's absurd to think it's as simple as, "Oh, just be kind."
For kindness to truly become who we are rather than something we do when we're in a good mood or are being pro-active instead of reactive, we will have to be serving a cause greater than ourselves. That's why Jesus teaches,
'Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.' - John 13:35
There's both the motivation and the power necessary to be those kind kids in the video every day, every minute, every moment. It's a kindness that isn't dependent upon where we are, how we feel, or who we are dealing with. It's a kindness that is dependent upon who He is, what He's done, and the work He is completing in us.
Go kick off your week loving because He loves, forgiving because He is forgiving, and being kind because He is kind.
