365 Things to Smile About Day 345. From the Mouths of Teenagers

I know the saying is "from the mouths of babes" but I had to point out the fact that the thing that just made me stand in awe and respect and pride came from someone who is in fact a teenager on a group lesson on a city bus.

Now, when many people see someone, or in this case a small group of people, with white canes they go into help mode, not realizing that pulling, pushing, talking rather loud or yelling at people to give up their seats, while done out of the goodness of their hearts, is not in fact the most helpful thing.  We all experienced at least a little bit of this, some more than others, when getting on the bus.  As I stood in the front of the bus I saw one of the students engaging another bus patron in conversation.  The bus patron, after learning we were doing a lesson in bus travel in order to be able to travel independantly, told the student that he was loosing his sight.

Let me set the scene a little better.  This was a packed, downtown bus full of people talking over each other.  And when I mean packed...there was no longer even safe standing room.  As the bus patron said this to the student, something really awesome happened.  The student raised their voice unknowingly but passionately as they responded and said, "You should get training, thats important.  You should get it before you loose your sight so when you loose your sight you are independent.  Then you'll be able to do anything you want."  As soon as she started to speak, the entire bus went completely silent and I saw that everyone on it was looking at the student like they were soaking up every word being spoken!  You could practically hear a pin drop and you could feel that the student's words were not being just listened to but taken to heart.  It was honestly one of the most amazing things I have seen so far!!

As people who work in the field we can stand and advocate and educate as much as possible.  And we do!  But I think that small, passionate, unintentional speech by a teenager on a lesson did more in educating and advocating than any seminar or class could ever do!  Nobody wrote the student off or affected an air of pity or anything like that.  It was a moment of absolute respectful silence as they took in those words and processed them.

They saw an independent young adult turning to an old man and encouraging him to do what they were doing instead of giving up.  Encouraging him to keep moving forward and not letting something he can't control bring him down or stop him from living his life and being independant.  Unwittingly, the student became the teacher today to an entire bus and the lesson hit home.  I only hope that some day I am able to hear one of my students advocate and educate like this!  I will be learning everything I can from the teacher of this student!

May I say for the hundredth time...I love my field!!!!