How are we "judged"?

"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."
~Cardinal Roger Mahony, In a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life
Many fine people have used some derivative of this thought in the past. I know I like to remind myself of the importance of only being as strong as our weakest link.

While in the teacher's lounge last week I had a conversation with one of our building paras about my dear daughter. This particular adult spends the first part of her day on a 1 to 1 supervision assignment of a very needy kindergartner that happens to be in the same class as Emma. The little fella had, no doubt, given Ms. B a run for her money as she eluded to him "just having another bad day." I immediately knew the munchkin of whom she is connected with daily because as I told her, Emma speaks of him often.
In fact, just the night before over evening supper, Emma was talking about how "Erik" lays down sometimes when Mrs. Sybrant asks the class to line up. She was sharing some of her classmate's other quirks but in a very "matter of factly" and informative way. I assure you her story was as respectfully stated as any 5 year could possibly do. I asked her what she thought about the young boy and his misbehavior. She replied, "It's O.K. dad. He just doesn't know any better. Ms. B sometimes has to help him and sometimes I try to help too." I then shared with my co-worker that in the past when Emma is playing school or doodling in her notebooks as she often does, we sometimes catch her writing the names of her friends in those books. I told Ms. B that my daughter often includes "Erik's" name in her list and that she truly considers him one of her friends. This little story of compassion brightened Ms. B's day and left me brimming with pride as well.

Well, after an unusually emotional Sunday within my own family, I got to school today feeling a little melancholy myself. The sunny commute paired with my littlest children bellowing sad country songs easily contributed to my feeling of "glum". It wasn't a sad state of affairs but a more reflective inward thinking about "the big picture" that was clouding my grey matter as I sauntered the early morning hallways on the way to the copy machine. Today though I was stopped by another building paraprofessional who happened upon a "feel good moment" during her playground supervision and wanted to share it with me.
"Nick" is a 5th grader that is struggling to find his place in the world. His learning disabilities and awkward gait make him an easy target for bullying. He has a full mouth of teeth and loves to let the world know when he's in the room and that doesn't bode well for elementary companionship. But this morning it didn't matter. My para friend wanted to tell me how proud she was to watch a young 6th grader from my homeroom take "Nick" under his wing and include him in on the game of Football 500 that the elder kids were playing. My student acted as a protector of his fragile friend and worked hard to get "Nick" the ball and make him feel good about himself.Tears began to fill my eyes for the second time this Monday morning. The first was during my commute when my beautiful baby girl serenaded me in song and now the second time as I listened with pride of another example of a kid that "gets it".

Isaiah and Emma- I love you both so very much! Mr. & Mrs. Johnson, rest easy. You've done your job well. In a world that can sometimes be cut-throat and extremely selfish, our children's hearts are filled with compassion and caring for the last, least and littlest. They're concerned with the well being of the whole tribe/team or family - not focused on individual gain and recognition.