Today was our second Be the Change Team meeting (from now on I'll simply refer to them as the BTCT...kind of like BSC books of my youth...no, I won't explain. If you get it, you're cool.) and I was reminded again why I adore my job. Kids have a resilience that we adults seem to have stuck under layers of cynicism and doubt. Our meeting started with a quick "check-in" and them moved into the meat of the day's activity...the "notice, choose, act" activity. Basically it named things you could do and then asked how you could do those three simple things, ending with the question, "When will you act on this change?" The first one was a simple thing...talking about what you're most thankful for. The last one was about forgiveness. As one of the two facilitators, I was tasked with doing the activity before the meeting and really dropping my waterline and getting as real as I could with the kids. I did. I admitted that I have a hard time forgiving someone in my life, in front of the group. Hello...I'm an adult. A professional school counselor. Mental health professional. And I cannot let go of a grudge. So, I will work to embrace the movement I've brought to my little school, and work through to forgiveness. The kids really embraced this activity. Of course, some of their responses were typical junior high silly:
"I'm thankful for my best friend ______ because she is sooooooooo totally awesome!!!!! And I will hug her right noweeeeee!!!!!"
But even those made my heart warm becuase teens just feel things to such a higher intensity than us cynics do. I love them.
But the one that touched my heart the most was a student who wrote:
"I forgive the students who have bullied me. They just didn't understand why they did it. I forgive them now."
Heart melting into puddles of joy. He is the change we need in our world. Buddy, I hope I can embrace your spirit and be more like you.
