Jose from Cuba

Subbing gets me all worked up. Sometimes it is the blatant disregard for authority that illicits this response. Sometimes it's the excitement of teaching. Sometimes it's the thrill of a new subject, or the humor of the kids.

Today, I'm all worked up again, but this time it is the innocent, pure goodness of a little boy that's done it to me.

First of all, after class had started, Jose looked at me (truly with big brown eyes) and asked, "Have you ever met a Cuban person before?" When I replied that I hadn't, he smiled and said, "You just did!"

After about 10 minutes of working on an assignment, he walked up to my desk with a paper full of errors. We sat together and worked through each question. One talked about "ethnic unrest" and he looked very confused. I said, "You know, Jose, how sometimes Mexican people don't get along with white people, or white people don't like blacks, that kind of thing." His face grew horrified and he said, "So soon?" and then corrected himself to say, "Still, I mean? People are still like that?" When I said that unfortunately, there are still people in the world who are prejudiced and racist, he shook his head sadly and continued his work.

He truly believed that this kind of division in the world had disappeared. If we can make all our children believe that, and truly live it, I guess there's still hope. Little Jose from Cuba, thank you. Today you made me feel like our world isn't a total lost cause.

PS OBAMA/BIDEN '08!!