ok here is a story of both weakness and strength, both sad and beautiful.
A little boy who has been beaten since the age of 2 and raped twice starts 5th grade. the teacher he has is in her 20's and really nice. demanding but in a nice way. so stuff going on at home but he is doing well in school. well one saturday him father brutally beats him and the when he went to school he asked if he could take a pass on pe. teacher being the inquisitive sort asks why so he takes her out and shows her that from the base of his neck to the back of his knees is a solid walls of bruises, so she reports it. saves the kids life. The boy goes into foster care and like 3 weeks later goes to live with his grandmother. who lives 2 houses away from his parents. so back home a week later same situation. the little boy figures screw it after school im done. im dying. formulates a plan and waits for the last day of school. last day of school after class he cleans out his desks and tells his teacher goodbye. Then completely out of the blue she grabs him up and hugs him and tells him how much she loves him. saved his life again. completely rewired his thoughts on how adults acted.
and this is why at the age of 42, Denise Johnson, my fifth grade teacher is my best friend. i would trade my life to extend hers for two reasons. because this world needs her and because i've already been given 31 years off the books.