Here is the perfect gift for your child's teacher. Trust me, they don't need another coffee mug. "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom," is available at Amazon.
Is he going to
touch my face? General rules of personal
space probably aren’t applicable at the moment.
It’s the grey in my beard. Like
jingling car keys or blinking holiday lights, the beard has seized his
attention.
“Obi Wan,” he
whispers as if he has been searching the galaxy and has finally found me. And yes, he is lightly touching my face. True, the original Obi Wan was three decades
older than myself so the comparison stings a bit. But, I mean it is Obi Freaking Wan
Kenobi. A true bad-ass of the universe
teaming with understated wisdom and some set of Uber ninja skills. It’s a fair trade to be seen as a man pushing
eighty.
This is
Enrique. Big man on campus. Large and likable. Infectious crooked smile and big belly
laugh. He is a special needs student,
perhaps more gifted than lacking however there is clearly a large disconnect
between him and the rigors of reading and writing. But Enrique has much more to offer. There is an instant and natural joy you get
by being around him. Joy is its own art
form and if you can give it away like penny candy to the masses, that is a
skill set not to take lightly or dismiss.
What the world needs now, am I right?
And for Enrique,
for the unique in general, the campus has a Statue-of-Liberty-vibe to it. Old school Statue of Liberty, not the new one
with all the unspoken addendums and asterisks added to it. If you’re different, if you’re quirky, if
you’re sitting out on the fringes a bit, enough kids here will have your
back. Enrique strides through the halls,
flag fully flying.
So now, our keeper
of the joy has granted me with a new nickname.
Obi Wan. I’ve been called far
worse by people who were far less, so I will own this one for sure. But Enrique wants me to earn it. And a new pattern has taken hold. He is a man most at ease in the comfort of a
reliable pattern. So, he feels entitled
to kill me with the force at least twice a day.
One death in the morning, and one at lunch. I saw him once after school and he waved.
“Not now, Obi
Wan,” he said to me in earnest. The next
morning though, he whips his big hand into the air as if he about to palm my
face. It is his outpouring of the
force. I reel back on my heels a bit,
then slump forward. The first time this
goes down, he looks annoyed.
“What’s the
matter, Enrique?”
“You do it all
wrong,” he said almost embarrassed for me.
“Kill me and I’ll show you.” So,
I thrust my palm into the air and Enrique flails his arms. He shakes like a cartoon character being
electrocuted. Then, exhausted, he lets his
upper body dangle down slightly swaying from the volt. I make some mental notes and motion for
Enrique to force me again. This time I
throw myself into the role. I let my
upper body dangle an extra second or two making it a great shot for the
close-up. Enrique beams. Clearly, I’ve nailed it. And it builds.
And Enrique has
worked his joy-mojo on me. I claim to do
this for him, but I am clearly all in. I
notice that I scout him out in the morning rush. I go on Youtube and look up Kenobi’s classic
last line when Vader takes him out.
After a few run-throughs, I use it one morning.
“If you strike me
down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Enrique is thrilled. Sure, it’s off script, but I think he finds
my acting choices bold.
Joy. It gives him immense pleasure, and it does
about the same for me. It’s all just an excuse
to express some joy. And it takes
precedence over all other conversations.
In mid conversation with other teachers I stop, deliver my line, die,
and return to the conversation. Some
ask. Some don’t.
The mad genius
that is Enrique. It can be found deep
down along the soft underbelly of it all, where the knowledge is kept about how
all of our acts are just symbols.
Symbols of joy. Symbols of
love. Symbols of fear. We just move through our symbols. Enrique knows it so well, he has no idea that
this is something that is not to be known by most. The kid just may be the sound of one hand
clapping. No joke.
About a month or
so into it, he walks in to my room to collect the bottles to be recycled. When he realizes it is my room and sees me
standing at the front, he whispers in glee.
“Obi Wan.”
“If you strike me
down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” The force rocks me back on my heels, the
upper body dangles. He smiles, waves,
then leaves. I get back to the lesson at
hand. Most kids are baffled.
“What was that?” a
kid asks. After a full explanation, a
grand plan is hatched. Everyone wants
in. The class rehearses a few times
during the week. Many of the kids are
not nailing the Alec Guiness accent, and it’s a little frustrating. Next Friday comes, Enrique walks in. Smiles don’t get much better than his.
“Obi Wan” he
whispers. In unison, the class delivers
the line.
“If you strike me
down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Enrique is mesmerized. He briefly jumps up and down. This is just too good. He hurls what can best be described as a
super-sized version of the force at the room.
His arm quivers. If he held it
any longer, he would have surely broken out in a sweat. A room of thirty-two feel the force suck the
very life from their eternal souls and they collapse. It is a little like a flash mob, I guess.
And the boy, who
somehow dwells in the sweetest of spots, somewhere between toddler simplicity
and old-sage-wisdom, conforming to no one’s expectations ever, goes full toddler. He giggles and hops up and down.
Any effort to
define the force by a person with only some cursory knowledge of the movies,
would be nothing short of blasphemy. But
still, must-attempt-I. Just maybe
Enrique’s obsession is really about all he knows but cannot say. The ability to instantly stream joy into a
greying world. The sweetest of smiles
dipped with audacity into the infinite gloom. The true force. Who knows?
But Enrique has a special gift that cannot be denied. And it can invisibly grab hold of you from
clear across a room, with more power than you could possibly imagine.
If you're enjoying the blog, here's a book I recommend. "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom," is available at Amazon.
