The Truth – Confession Time

So I thought I would fess up from last time and tell the truth.  I love to roller blade, so the part about the 21 K marathon was actually true. And guess what – we did win the lottery at my school! It was beyond awesome, I used the $ to take my daughter to Florida. But, the Scotland/Gaelic stuff, I fibbed that. Hope that I was able to fool you, it renews my faith in my fake self.
The two truths and a lie actually got me thinking about a certain short person in my class, who has a hard time admitting the truth. And his lies always happen after he has done something he shouldn’t and he’s trying to cover his tracks and realizes he can’t. It goes kinda like this. I’ll call him Pinocchio –

ME: Pinocchio, did you hit that little girl with the ball?
P: NO!
ME: Pinocchio, it’s always better to tell the truth, are you sure?
P: NO I DIDN’T HIT HER!! (becoming angrier)
ME: Why would she tell me that you did then?
P: runs away. I never chase after him, there’s no point. He always comes back.

Sound familiar? If it hasn’t happened to you yet, trust me, it will. But, I’ve had Pinocchio in my class for close to 130 days now and I have used every spare minute of it to attach to him, at least as much as he’ll let me. And on Friday, we had a breakthrough. Pinocchio hit someone else, the other little boy told me about it and our usual scenario did not play out at all. Instead, when I asked P if he had hit, he looked right at me and I saw something in his eyes for just a flicker of a second, and I reminded him for the 130th time that it is always better to tell the truth. Right? Oprah’s been saying it for years, the truth will set you free. Denzel Washington said it in Flight (great movie). And after that flicker, P replied – Yes, I did hit him. IT WAS SUCH A GREAT MOMENT!! I was so happy because we could move on from there. He apologized and meant it and things were good. It restored my faith in perseverance.

Then, at lunch he hit an adult and now he is suspended for 2 days. And I am sad. I guess that you would have to know him to know why I feel sad. Underneath that hard wooden Pinocchio exterior is a sweet, little boy who just needs things he doesn’t have. So, despite his breakthrough, probably the only thing he’ll remember from Friday is the suspension.

And me – I’m just gonna keep on keeping on.