Through the years Sean displayed the perfect picture of
acceptance of all. When Sean started a
class in school that was “required” to learn tolerance and he was being
integrated, I got a call the 1st day of class advising me that Sean
would NOT be attending the class but would “get credit”. Needless to say I was quite angry and made a
beeline for the school to talk to the teacher.
While I was in the office and waiting for the teacher to come and talk
to me, I was fuming and the longer I waited the angrier I got. When the teacher entered the office I looked
at her and I was close to tears (thinking all of our hard word at integration
had failed on the very first class he attended) and the teacher looked at me and
directed me into a conference room. The
MINUTE the door closed I started yelling at her that it was completely
unacceptable that she was discriminating against my son and he had a right to
attend this class with his classmates and on…and on…and on. The whole time she listened and tried to
interrupt me to say something but I WASN’T GOING TO BE STOPPED stating my sons
rights!!!
Once I took a breath she took the opportunity to get a word
in and said I am NOT keeping him from attending – I just don’t believe that it
is in his best interest. Needless to say
my arms crossed against my chest and I was about to start into another diatribe
and she put her hand up and said give me a chance to explain. I shut my mouth fully expecting the worst and
experiencing one of my top 10 joyful mom moments. Here is what she said: Our
class is designed to help our students understand the differences so they will
have a tolerance in order to hopefully avoid bullying, teasing and other
negative reactions. After the 1st
30 minutes I came to realize that Sean didn’t KNOW there was a difference
and I didn’t want him to attend the class and learn that there were
differences. I would like to ask your
permission to use Sean as an example during my lessons to show our students how
they really should be treating others.
I instantly cried for the 10th time that afternoon (I became good friends with this teacher and of course gave her permission to use Sean as a role model)– but this time from pride not anger and knew that though as a mom I messed up and made so many mistakes, this is an area that I felt like I did something right. Sean’s “Bestest” friends crossed the scope of so many diversities and I am proud to say that I was his mother.
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