Fragile Trust

About the time that most Americans were just becoming aware of the plight of homelessness, I was teaching first graders along with six other teachers of that same grade level in a school in middle Georgia.

It was early morning and my students were busy starting their morning routine when my door opened and a clerk from the office beckoned to me. I went over to her and she explained that they had a new student in the office and to prepare for him. She said there would be some delay as he was presently hiding under a bench and refused to come out. It seems that his mother had just come to this school district and was going to a job interview. She had been in another area and she had been living in a car but had just come to live with her mother. She was in a hurry and left without establishing which bus he would be taking home.

While the child was trying to cope with being left in a strange place by the one person he trusted most in the world, his mother had left the building. He had retreated to a safe place under the bench. I was notified and offered to come to the office but was told to stay in my room and he would be brought to me.

When he arrived at my door he did not want to come inside. I told him that was all right that I would bring his desk out into the hall. I got his desk and chair and positioned them where he could look in and hear what we were doing. From time to time I would walk near him and explain what we were doing, walk on and so it went. After a while I went over and asked him which bus he would be taking home (something I needed to know). He tearfully said he did not know how he would get back home. Realizing that the office had not yet found out where his grandmother lived I bent down and quietly told him to not worry about it that I would take him home myself.

Hearing this he got up and walked into the room. I took his desk and chair and put it where he would be working. I never asked him to come in but rather allowed him to become comfortable with where he was and when he was ready to trust me he just walked in!

The bus he would be riding was finally decided upon and when his bus was called over the intercom he went out with a new friend from our room who was riding the same bus.

Actually the teachers were not allowed to drive the children home. I was not deceiving the little boy for if no other means for him to get home was available I would certainly see that he was safely taken back to his grandmother and mother.

Why this story came into my mind today, I am not sure. Something triggered it and reminded me of how fragile trust is and once broken it is hard to repair. As adults we have lived long enough to realize that circumstances can arise which may render us helpless in keeping a promise. We know that things happen beyond our control but a child has yet to learn that. Gaining the trust of anyone, and especially a young child is a precious gift not to be squandered.