A Brave Little Girl

She's my Bella. Her Mom calls her "her" Bella ,that's ok cuse we know she's really my Bella. I can't imagine knowing Love with out my little girls to be it, all the time, all around me.Alexis is 25 now, Anastasia is 21, Bella is 6 and Lola is 2. Too me they are all My girls.
This last week I've seen how the feelings of a child are never "wrong" or "bad". A childs' feelings are the truth of how they feel. Bella started Kindergarden/ first grade in the neighboring village of San Fransisco [San Pauncho] last week when we returned from Los Angeles.
As i watched and listened to both Bella and her mom talk about her experience in this little Mexican Montessori School I was amazed at how honest and open Bella was.You see her school is very small 8 or 9 other kids in her class and it is about the real necessities for education because that's what they have to work with. On her first day we stood outside her class room and watched a wild turkey walk past the little building. I grew up in the woods of Florida, before it was all torn down and built on and spent hours watching wild turkeys so this was a sign for me that we were back in a place where life was not under the totalitarian control of the present culture. In fact somebody here will eat that bird like we used to do.
Bella was loving it. Everything was new and scary and bigger than life. Then she looked at me and asked if she would be ok here in this jungle school. "Oh Bell Bell you'll be great" I said " It will take a little time to get used to everything and make new friends and you will". So she went to school for the first day.
Bella speaks a little Spanish , not much and her school was total immersion, all Spanish, although a couple of the teachers speak perfect English. The first day went ok. The second day was tough. After school Bella cried and said she didn't understand anything that was going on and none of the kids played with her, she was all alone all day.Mee and I were so bummed. What were we doing? Bella is a brilliant little girl in every way and she was so sad.We talked and said to try for this one week and we'd see how it goes. Bella looked at us and said "ok, I'll try my best". My old teacher Miguel Ruiz would have been inspired by her willingness, honesty and courage.She's never read "The Four Agreements" and she is them.
While she was at school the next day I was looking at houses on line in Tennessee and Malibu expecting to need to move back to the U.S. sooner than later. The next day was ok. Then we had a meeting with the Director of the school and said that Bella was feeling left out and lonely and could they help.Of course they said they would do what they could but this was Mexico and Spanish is their language. Boy did I get it in so many ways. I flashed on the millions of non-English speaking kids that come to the U.S. and have to figure it out on their own because in the U.S. English is the official language.
So I did what I do and asked some questions about how, if the school was interested, we might support the non-Spanish speaking kids so they can feel a part of and learn with more ease and less stress.It became about the ones the school is there for, the children. Before two more days had passed Bella had been asked to sit in a circle with her class mates and tell them how she felt, through an interpreter. She's just Six years old and she told them she was afraid and lonely and felt left out. She was honest and sincere and it wasn't anybodies fault, it was what it was. By the time they were done Bella had another bilingual student that would sit with her and help her understand the teaching and two other little girls asked her to join their club.I don't know if I could have done that with such sweet integrity. There was no blame and no good or bad. There was just the truth and the truth brought the best out in everyone involved.
Because of Bella's courage the school saw that the non Spanish speaking kids would benefit from more support.The kids all heard how it feels to be new and different and they brought her into their lives as one of their own, and she is, really, another kid in this gigantic world.Mee and I were totally humbled by the love and courage of our baby and I got to step up and help with bringing another bilingual teacher into the Eschula del Mundo School of San Pauncho, Nayarit, Mexico.
There was never anybody wrong or bad, there was never any blame or even a victim. What there was, was a group of people seeing the truth that a school is a place for Children to learn how to read, write, communicate, share, learn and love. There was no Political agenda or adult driven opinions and craziness. In this little jungle school, in one of the poorest states in Mexico, a group of humans made the world a better place by not losing sight of the importance of simply taking care of our babies.
I came away so proud of my wife and her getting in there with Bella to see how she really was doing and also with the beautiful staff at the school for doing what all teachers get into the profession for, they made the children the priority.
I also had flashes of all my daughters and all I've witnessed in their lives and how brave and honest they all have tried to be , even when I couldn't hear that kind of honesty.I can hear it today and I can feel it and I thank the creator for showing so much Love and light through the eyes of the children.
Tomorrow's a new day and there will be more stuff that has to be delt with and for my family that will be whatever it is and we will do it together.
Peace Be With You, Lee