The dictionary is your friend...

Today, as I plodded down the hallway with a string of students who had not finished their writing assessment, I was struck by the thought, "This is what a magnet must feel like." The students, who have been attending this school for three years, would not leave my side, staying a close distance behind, eyes sucking in every step and every word I was saying.

I shook my head and tried to curb the flat chatter I was rambling on about to these middle schoolers and ushered them into the library. They quickly took their places and started in on their writing. I settled in with the magazine I had begun reading last period (the librarian was so enthusastic about her library, she would not rest until I had gazed at a sampling of their newest addition to the stacks) and cast one wary eye on the students.

About two minutes later the librarian scampered up beside me with a student who I had never seen before, and pointed for him to sit down. "This young man has a little trouble concentrating, so I am going to sit him here at this table. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere? Thanks!" Off she twittered into her leaves and brush of books and bindings and I was left blinking into the face of this new and alien student. I smiled, made sure he was taking the writing assessment as well, and turned another page.

Time was d r a g g i n g by, the students were bent over their work, taking care in each letter and swoop of their pencils...SIGH...why did it take so long to write a four paragraph response to a question?! I gulped down my sudden burst of energy, forced myself not to throw my head back in extreme boredom and yell, "Fire!" and glanced in frustration at this new student.

He had been playing with the chair beside him and had taken an obscure obsession with a blank piece of paper on his desk. He had not even begun writing, his paper was not even turned right side up. Tap, tap, tap went the chair against the desk. I occupied my time studying the contours of the table in front of me...it was not my job to keep this student on task.

Yet...

I glanced back at him...tap, tap, tap. I couldn't help it. It was an undeniable force.

I stood, took the whole step across the distance between us, and pulled the chair out of his hands. "How's it going?" I asked, plopping into the once accoustic chair. He shrugged and looked away. "How far have we gotten so far?" I flipped the papers over and looked at the achingly blank page. "Hmmm....sometimes the hardest part is starting."

"I'm thinking about what to write," he murmured reaching for his test packet.

"Looks like you've already written your rough draft here," I pushed. "Why not we try the first sentence?" He looked at me like I had grown three heads.

"No, really. Let's write down the first sentence and see what happens."

Magic. Beautiful, sparkling magic.

He moved. He reached for his pencil and picked it up.

Words were breathed and birthed onto the virgin test packet and I sat in silent reverence to the small creation I was witness to...

He stopped. He looked at me expectantly. "Hmm..." I gulped, filing my silent musings away. "Great start. Then what?"

"What do you mean, 'then what?'" he asked...again with the three heads.

"Okay...so you wrote you found a strange path on the way home...so what? Then what?"

"I need a dictionary."

I grinned...he was stalling.

"Okay, here's one." Great thing libraries...dictionaries are readily available.

"How do you spell 'noticed'?" his eyes sparkled with mischief and a more troublesome emotion. Fear. He didn't know. He honestly didn't know.

"You tell me...what does it start with?"

"N,"

"Then what?"

He laughed. Pure, blissful, magic.

It went like that for the rest of the class. I pulled and prodded every single word and sentence from this young man. He looked up every word he didn't know. He tried so hard. So very, very hard to pay attention to his work. In 25 minutes, he had gotten one paragraph completed.

He earned that paragraph. I am so proud of him. The bell rang, and I escorted my students back to class.

I don't know his name. He has no idea who I am.

But today...today was why I am here...I was part of an awakening. The slow and sometimes ugly battle to open the minds eye to a new dimension of life. The tedious, cruel attempt to acquire the most precious thing we have in life. Knowledge. Knowledge is power and power is dangerous.

Today...I helped write a paragraph. All because of a single, tiny step. I am blessed. And I am dangerous.

How dangerous are you?