endure suffering

I had a cool teaching moment today. So in my class, the average age is probably about 12, with kids of all sizes. Today I had mostly medium to big kids, and one little 7 year old. He may not be the best, and he was severely undersized, but man that little kid would work. (I *love* people who are just willing to work.)

So we were doing circle sparring (by which one person stays in the circle and has to spar everyone all in a row), and while he was sparring one of the bigger kids (who I specifically told to go light to the face), he got whacked in the front of the face. It wasn't terrible, but this kid also hasn't been hit in the face much before, so he immediately started crying and freaking out.

I looked him over and he was fine - no blood, just tears. Racking my brain (and trying NOT to look at his parents who were probably totally shocked and ready to sue me) I took him to the side and started to distract him.

"Hey Ross! It's OK, I know you're surprised. You have to put your hands up, right? But can you do something for me?"

He hiccups a few times "yes ma'am"

"Can you count to 10?"

"In...in...ko...korean?"

"Yep! Can you count for me?"

hiccup hiccup. "Ha-na....doooool....set..."

So he's thinking and thinking, and gets through 10. "Hey Ross guess what!'

"What?"

"Your face doesn't hurt anymore, right?"

"Uh...no ma'am"

"Alright! High five!"

So he gives me a high five and gets back in the circle.

Ah, kids are so resilient. And easily distracted. Phew. Situation diffused.

After the class, I made each kid tell me something they learned in class. When his turn came, he immediately said "put my hands up!" It's nice to know that sometimes, they actually do learn something.

Tonight's Bible study was on Acts 14 and one of JH's main questions was about Paul and hardships and suffering. As much as I hate to see my kids get whacked in the face - there is really no better way to teach someone to block. And I will guarantee that when you've been hit in the face - you will remember it and learn to put your hands up the next time. So my kids probably think I'm a hardass, but I think I understand a little better why we have to endure what seems like suffering.

I was talking to someone and he comes up to me on the side and sticks his hand out and bows. "Bye Miss Park". Of all the kids in my class, the smallest and lowest rank was the one to remember the proper etiquette. I shook his hand, and put my hand up for a high five. He gave me a big smile and slapped my hand back.

I think that those students who understand that their teacher has their best interest in mind...those are the ones that learn the most. Having that kind of faith in your teacher, that they would let you get kicked in the face by someone bigger than you, and be able to extract the lesson from it...in a strange way, I was inspired by a 7 year old red belt today.