Being nice

Pin It I had a few students today who had some problems on the playground. It was strange for me to be having this little talk with them about kindness, because those involved were all good friends.

It had started out with something very small between two students, and slowly escalated into something more with a few others thrown into the mix.

When I was talking to the students in question, they admitted they were in the wrong, and that they were not as kind as they should have been.

When the student they’d been teasing—I’ll call him ‘Joey’—came out to join in our little conversation in the hallway, each of the other kids apologized for what they’d done. I watched on in amazement as Joey looked at each of these other kids in turn and spoke the words, “You’re forgiven.”

I found myself thinking about Joey long after the kids had returned to the classroom and I was in the midst of reading groups, and everyone was busy summarizing about planets and reading their picture books with voices and expression.

The way that this student had turned to the others—without any guile or resentment—and simply said, in his own way, “Hey, don’t worry about it.” This made me so proud of the way he was being raised—and the maturity he was showing toward his peers.

How much different of a world would this be if each of us, when we’re hurt or wronged by someone else, could simply say, “You’re forgiven” and mean it? Not harboring secret grudges or thinking of it for days and weeks on end?

You know, sometimes my students amaze me.