A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Today at school was a day of mixed emotions. Coming into my morning classroom my teacher Ms Townsend was acting funny so I came in and talked to one of the other AmeriCorps people that works in the classroom. Apparently this little boy Luis has been being bullied and he got beat up this morning. And the little boys have been telling him that if he told his parents or Ms Townsend that they would end their uncles that are gang members after them. What? He eneded up telling Ms Townsend and the boys got in trouble. Parents were called, the works. The most heartwarming part was when the class clapped for Luis when he came back in the classroom and how they went up to him and thanked him for being brave. Ms Townsend also talked to the class about being a family and how we take care of our family. LAter on in the day I heard that they were taking care of each other at recess. That made my heart smile!

At lunch we had a fantastic Thanksgiving feast. All the teachers and staff brought in the most delicious food! It was so touching the air of community and family that we had in the lounge. Ms Jimenez said a prayer, which at first I was apprehensive but by the end her kind words had people in tears and it was so heartfelt and emotional. I was reminded of all of the things in life I do have to be thankful for. It is hard for me to do that most of the time lately because for the most part I feel unhappy with my current situation. It was magical to be surrounded by such love. It renewed my spirit and now I can go into my week off feeling a little revived.