Trudging along the wall, her shadow bent in the sun, she carried her backpack on her left shoulder. She felt the absence of friends walking beside her on her way to class. At home, someone had said that he doesn’t care. If no one cares, why should she?

Still, the teacher was watching that shadow as she walked by. Her silhouette told things she did not know it told. The same face she turned to him: “Why should I care?”

She walked in and sat down in her new seat next to new chorus-mates. Things were different now, but nothing had changed. This was her third time around. She felt like she was stuck in a time warp.

Then one day, early in the day before the sun rose and gave definition to the odd shape slightly darkening the wall as she walked by, a rather eccentric teacher, shined a flashlight on the wall, obliterating her shadow.

She turned around and blinked at the grinning face of her teacher. Her face this time was not “Why should I care?” but it was “Why are you doing something crazy?”

The teacher said, “Some people need to be reminded they are not their shadow. I thought one of those people might be you.”

She didn’t get it.

So he walked up to her and said, “You are not your failures, or the unkindness of others toward you. You are the sum of God’s purpose for you and His delight in you.”

And then he gave her a hug. It took a little while for his words to sink in.

~Written for a former 7th grade student L. Blanco

November 16, 2021