A Good Human

Notes from Public School (2023-2024) - Day 96

“Mr. Barton, Juan is from here.”

Johan showed me an atlas and pointed to the city of Bogota in the country of Colombia.

Juan is my new student.

“He’s a newcomer,” wrote the front office, “To the US, South Carolina, and our school.”

“He’s a little nervous,” said our attendance clerk. 

“I told him not to worry and that he’s lucky to get you as a teacher.”

That made my heart soar.

Can you imagine, coming to a new school surrounded by new people speaking a new language?

I can.

 

I was the ‘new kid’ in Kenieba, Mali, West Africa 25 years ago.

It was tough!

I didn’t know what to think, what to do or what to say.

But Momadu and Madu walked beside me and helped me learn how to think like a Malinke person, act in Malinke culture and speak in the Malinke language.

That’s where Johan comes into the story.

“Johan,” I asked early this morning when I got to school and he was waiting in the hallway to come into the classroom, “Will you come here for a moment?”

“We’re going to get a new student today. He’s from Colombia. You’re from Colombia. Would you sit beside him and help him make it through his first day in a new school?”

I wish you could’ve seen the expression on Johan’s face.

Care, empathy, tenderness.

The building blocks of a good human.

He’s a good human.

All through the day, he walked beside Juan and helped him.

I walked by our attendance clerk that afternoon and said, “The truth, mi Amiga, is that I’m the lucky one.”

Lucky to have Juan as a new student.

Lucky to have Johan in my classroom.

Lucky to be a teacher and experience beauty, ingenuity, wonder and courage.

Every. Single. Day.