Empathy

One of my students, Mingi, gets into trouble more often than not. I could imagine dealing with divorced parents at the age of 9 has that effect on children. To say that he keeps the day more interesting than it should be is an understatement. He once threw a football at another kid's face and then ran away and hid out in the library. I told him next time he throws a football at some one's face to man up and deal with the consequences. A couple of weeks later he and group of his friends got in trouble for throwing somethings around at the after school program. I asked each of his friends if they had thrown things and they each denied it. When I asked Mingi, however, he looked at me straight in the eye and said "Yes, I did." I was so proud him.

On Thursday night, Mingi's dad died. I found out yesterday and I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for this kid who's gone through so much already. I'm pretty stoic over death. It happens. I'm not sure if this is useful to you. Can you imagine, though, what it must be like to be 9 and to deal with this?

Mingi, your dad loved you very much.