Taps



My friend Hazel lived to be 99 years old. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse before getting married and raising a family including my friend Doyt.  During my last visit with Hazel, she said people need to spend more time with children because it makes them wiser.   I thought she meant adults make children wiser. I was wrong.
A tender little boy taught me a lesson today and somewhere out there in the great beyond my friend Hazel is smiling. The little boy is six years old with special learning needs and a gifted heart.  He is the son of immigrants.
We celebrated Veterans Day at school today.  Our ceremony ends with the playing of Taps and a moment of silence. 500 students leave the gymnasium in absolute silence in honor of men and woman who are no longer with us.
Taps is played.  I state to the students that we will have a moment of silence.  As I am counting the moment of silence, I could hear the soft voice of a child whimpering.  I start to dismiss students in silence when the whimpering became a soft cry of a hurting child.
My eyes connected with my friend as he wraps his arms around me and shares,"This is very sad".  My friend has no cultural reference to Taps or a moment of silence.  He just knew it was sad.  He just knew.
We could learn a lot from this first generation American with special needs and a gifted heart.  His empathic ways allowed him to recognize how others feel.

I will never listen to Taps again without thinking of the lesson from a simple little boy.

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