so i discovered a book this morning - or I was given a book to read to the class i was teaching this morning. it was a good thing i read it myself before i read it to the class, because it almost made me cry the first time i read it...

it's called: "Lady in the Box" by Ann McGovern

and basically, it is about two siblings who notice a woman living in a box outside a shop on their street in their neighbourhood, and they bring her food, clothes and are quite concerned about her well-being - and in the end they start serving in the soup kitchen in their town - just simply a very well-written story about homelessness and goodwill during the holidays but without a lot of cheesy sentiment or cliches.

after reading it to the class we had a talk about homeless people - where they live, why they are homeless, what we can do, what we should do, the salvation army, soup kitchen's, personal stories, etc etc etc... one girl was so interested in what the salvation army did that she was ready to call them up right away and tell them she wanted to help... and i was refreshed to see their innocence - when i asked them is it their fault they are homeless, every kid said no, they were just unlucky - which is the kind of attitude i think we need more in our world, and children have it - a keen concern and willingness to help those who need help and maybe can't help themselves... every once in awhile children manage to show me a glimmer of hope that maybe this next generation will not be as selfish and inwardly focused as i see the world is now..

which got me to thinking on my drive home - if they have that attitude in grade 3, when do they lose it, becasue as adults we do not all feel this way, and even those of us that do, how much do we actually do to help those who are less fortunate? and does giving $20 to the salvation army bell ringer at save-on-foods at christmas truly count as help?