Ten Years After

I unloaded some harsh truth on my 8th period, 8th grade girls today. The truth was this: they care and boys don't.The girls might as well learn this now. This is from January 3, 2012.It wasn't something I planned. This afternoon, in my fifth period, eighth grade Bible class, I prefaced a topic which required some maturity from my students with my usual intro: 
"Are we all all adults here?" 
They all nodded their heads. I asked Bryanna, a young lady who played basketball for me last year, 
"Are you sure?" 
She looked around and this time, she shook her head NO. I knew what she meant. I asked her, "Are you referring to the opposite gender?" She shook her head YES. It was predictable. Most eighth grade girls think their male counterparts are silly and immature. Most eighth grade boys don't care what girls think. It's a standoff.

Normally, I would have  just gone on with our discussion but it seemed like a good time to make a point. I asked the eight wonderful young ladies in this section if they thought they were special and different in a good way when compared to other girls in the world who are being raised without discipline and spiritual values. My female students (Bryanna, Avery, Madison, Mallory, Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Lindsay, Laura) all agreed they are, as do I. So I asked them if the same wasn't true for these young men (Gino, Matthew, Jeremiah, Cory, Derrick, Richard, Sheyi, Devin) who share Room 258 from 12:09-12:55 PM five days a week. The girls had not considered that. I went on to say, with the voice of experience and being a recovering eighth grade boy myself, that in ten years, their male classmates, irritating and annoying as they are to them now, would be good men and the kind of guys they will want to fall in love with and marry. When spun in that light with a decade of distance, the girls agreed once more, not even grudgingly. Girls, I believe, are able to project themselves into the future  more easily than boys at that age and what they can perceive of these young men in 2022 is much more than what meets their eye today. Statistics show the odds are small that any of these kids will marry each other but you never know. Maybe we learned today that our present does not have to be our future. I'm confident the Lord sees me that way. With the coming decade to work, He can even mold me into someone less annoying, irritating, silly, and immature than  my present status. Get back to me in ten years. I might be busy preaching some weddings.

Applicable quote of the day:

"Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.”

Anne Frank  God bless, Steve Luke 18:1 www.hawleybooks.com E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com