I chaperoned the 8th grade dance tonight, and aside from admiring how great so many of my students looked, there was one moment that absolutely melted my heart.
There was one boy, a student I don’t have but I have spoken to a couple of times. He’s one of our ASD kids and he’s not a social butterfly, but he came to the dance in a full tux complete with a corsage and he just looked so adorable. He was so polite as he talked to all of us teachers and staff and even asked for a few pictures of us.
Well, he’s kind of a loner and he was just walking around the room, kind of just doing the perimeter, which is pretty much what we all expected. But then a few girls caught him walking by and asked him to dance with them, and hell it was just the cutest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen in my life because this kid they probably don’t even know was all by himself and they decided, “let’s include him,” and every day I find little ways to believe that humanity is not entirely awful.
I’m going to miss some of these kids.
