[NFB-Krafters-Korner] Thanksgiving wishes to my Krafters Family

[Jill Rossiter]

I wanted to share this sweet story I read with you all.  I sort of feel like
Douglas about you all.  You all mean the world to me, and I am thankful for
the crafting, fun, and most of all the friendship we share at Krafters
Korner.  That is what drew me in in 2012 and what will keep me around.  May
you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Jill Rossiter

 


A Teacher Told Her Students to Draw What They Were Thankful for-This Was One
Student's Moving Response


As this teacher learned, some of the most moving lessons are taught by
students.

When Mrs. Klein told her first graders to draw a picture of something for
which they were thankful, she thought how little these children, who lived
in a deteriorating neighborhood, actually had to be thankful for. She knew
that most of the class would draw pictures of turkeys or of bountifully
laden Thanksgiving tables. That was what they believed was expected of them.

What took Mrs. Klein aback was Douglas's picture. Douglas was so forlorn and
likely to be found close in her shadow as they went outside for recess.
Douglas's drawing was simply this:

A hand, obviously, but whose hand? The class was captivated by his image. "I
think it must be the hand of God that brings us food," said one student.

"A farmer," said another, "because they grow the turkeys."

"It looks more like a policeman, and they protect us." "I think," said
Lavinia, who was always so serious, "that it is supposed to be all the hands
that help us, but Douglas could only draw one of them."

Mrs. Klein had almost forgotten Douglas in her pleasure at finding the class
so responsive. When she had the others at work on another project, she bent
over his desk and asked whose hand it was.

Douglas mumbled, "It's yours, Teacher."

Then Mrs. Klein recalled that she had taken Douglas by the hand from time to
time; she often did that with the children. But that it should have meant so
much to Douglas .

Perhaps, she reflected, this was her Thanksgiving, and everybody's
Thanksgiving-not the material things given unto us, but the small ways that
we give something to others.