A Big Lesson From a Small Person

A small incident that happened at work has been playing over and over in my mind. Earlier this month, my boss brought his little son to work with him.  I love this boy and enjoyed the days he came into the dealership. This particular day, he was having a hard time.  His dog, his buddy, had been run over and killed by a car and his tender, young heart was breaking.

I asked if he'd like to work with me to keep his mind busy and he took my hand.  As we met the people I worked with, they would ask him what was wrong and he would begin to sob anew.  I didn't know how to comfort him.  He asked me if I believed that dogs would go to heaven and we talked about what we believe, but he was still struggling.  While we were walking back to my office, the idea of having him draw a picture of his dog occurred to me.  When I asked if he would like to do that, his response was quick and excited.

The dog.  

He sat at my desk and drew his dog.  He drew grass under her feet and sky above her and he asked me to help him spell the date she died.  He took a lot of time on it.  He felt that he was doing something for her by drawing her in the sunshine with flowers by her feet.  We slipped the drawing into a page protector when he was finished and he took it to show his dad. He talked about the dog off and on during the course of the day, but the tears were gone.  In some way, creating something to express his love for his dog helped him move past the first shock of what had happened.

The "Goodbye" card made for me by my little friend on my last day of work. Children have a huge capacity to love; we would all be better off if we kept that within us as we age.

That's it. That's the whole story.  My small friend will probably never think about drawing that picture as he grows up.  I, however, will think about it often.  As I am preparing to teach about the arts to my new students, I am wondering how I can structure my classes to have meaning in their lives.  I don't have lofty visions of eternal impact on every student, but I do feel that just as drawing a picture of a beloved pet gave comfort to a small boy in a hard moment, art has the power to help my students process the world they live in, letting them make sense of the things they experience.  They may never know this on a conscious level, but then again, they may- either way, that makes sense of what I am doing.  It's a sweet circle and I am excited to be part of it.

Thanks for stopping by!  Alice