A Box of Bath Powder
A shyly offered gift
Something happened when I was a very callow student teacher many years ago. I was, to say the least, inexperienced and not particularly effective as a teacher.
Yet, I did connect a few times with my young students in ways that I still recall with gratitude and tenderness. One such incident involved a gift a student gave me just before the Christmas break.
The school day was coming to a close. Students and teachers alike were eager for the Christmas holidays to start the next day.
My desk was covered with many brightly wrapped gifts from my students. No doubt some of the gifts were genuinely given out of appreciation; others, particularly the more very obviously expensive ones may have been tendered as a hopeful bribe!
One very shy student named Kathy handed me a very crumpled, partly ripped paper bag. “Here” she murmured so quietly I barely heard her speak. Thinking she was giving me some trash to throw away, I smiled and put the bag in the trash can.
Her pale blue eyes filled immediately with tears. Belatedly, I realized Kathy was giving me a gift. “Oh, Kathy! I’m so sorry!”, I cried, taking the paper bag from the trash bin. “How foolish of me! May I open the bag to see what’s inside?”
