As I tried to be a good teacher and do good teacher things at school today, I was thinking about this small story.
Teaching is ‘heart’ work, ‘blue whales heart’ work, indeed.
Small Story -
Another thing that you need to know about Hilcias is that he has a big heart.
Really.
Literally.
One day he fell at the end of a long row of tomatoes and hurt his ribs on the corner of a big rock.
His mamí and abuelo took him to see Dr. Maria at the Free Medical Clinic in the evening at the end of the workday.
His abuelo put a giant, calloused hand on his chest to monitor his breathing and help him keep still.
He took quick, shallow breaths because his whole body hurt if he breathed deeply and slowly.
“Wow!” Dr. Maria exclaimed as they looked at the x-ray with her.
“His ribs are just bruised, but, my goodness, look at the size of his heart!
I’ve never seen a heart so big in a child so small.”
An echocardiogram confirmed it.
“It’s rare in children,” explained Dr. Maria, “But his heart is enlarged because his heart muscle isn’t squeezing as well as it should and his heart is growing bigger to compensate.
The good news is we can treat him so he can lead a nearly normal life.
He’ll just have to use his heart for something other than professional soccer.”
Later that night, when abuelo was reading a book to him before he fell asleep, he said, “I want you to have a broad mind and a big heart, mi niñocita, and it seems nature is helping my hopes come true.”
Then his abuelo kissed him on the forehead.
“Te amo, Hilcias.
Te amo.”
As Hilcias drifted off to sleep, he remembered that blue whales have the largest hearts that have ever beaten on Earth.
He saw himself walking around in a blue whale’s heart, going through the swinging doors of its ventricles without lowering his head.
This thought comforted him.
“I have a blue whale’s heart,” he thought.
And he did.
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