i love daisy

Like a hedgehog, Daisy spread her spines and screamed loudly: "Besides suing the principal, what else will you do?..."

The first time I met Daisy was in my ESL (English as a Second Language) class.

On the first day of class, Daisy asked me, the new teacher, in an old-fashioned way: "Hey, when can I switch out of ESL? I went from kindergarten to sixth grade, and I'm going crazy!"

eldest sister head

Judging from her fluent English and quick conversation, she does not look like an ordinary foreign student who needs language assistance, but since she is listed on the student list, there must be something else going on.

She is of Mexican origin, with dark skin and a plump medium body shape; under her slightly narrow forehead, she has clear black and white but erratic eyes; her thick and unkempt hair always carries an unconcealable look. The smell of oil; when walking, he habitually put his hands in the dark blue coat with a low zipper. Although her appearance is not outstanding, when she talks, she holds her head high and her body language is rich, giving her a "big sister" look.

I came to the office curiously and wanted to look through Daisy's study records. The secretary in a brown-red wig pointed at Daisy's name with her delicate fingers, shook her head and said, "No need to look for it. I'll tell you what you want to know!" "

Daisy comes from a broken family, her parents are divorced, and she now lives with her stepfather and biological mother. She has learning disabilities and emotional control problems. In severe cases, she needs to take medication or go out for medical treatment. After the secretary introduced Daisy's background, she winked at me and said, "I wish you good luck!" I realized that there was going to be a tough battle ahead of me.

As expected, not long after the class began, the "boss" Daisy began to criticize my teaching in public. At first, the good words and persuasion had some effect. But after the first semester exam, Daisy had a prejudice against me because of her unsatisfactory results.

▲Teacher Xie (Zhou Weiwei) is preparing teaching materials.

blatant provocation

She refused to enter the classroom at first. I persuaded her to come in, but she passed notes in class, spoke in Spanish, and encouraged other students to go on strike. In order to soothe Daisy's unhappy mood, I communicated with her in private for a long time, and my skin was almost worn out. Not only did she remain indifferent, but she rolled her eyes and said sarcastically: "Who told you that you are not so fierce? I am not afraid of you!" That provocative look , No matter how big or small, the rude attitude makes people angry.

One day, after class, Daisy picked up the camera hidden in her pocket, "Pop!" and took a picture of the classmate next to her. I was shocked. This girl was extremely arrogant. I immediately asked Daisy to give me the camera for safekeeping, otherwise I would have to ask her to see the principal.

As soon as she finished speaking, Daisy was like a hedgehog, spreading her spines and screaming loudly: "Aside from suing the principal, what else can you do? Be careful if you sue too many, the school will make you walk!" She was excited and swung her hand. He picked up the chair next to him and threw it to the ground. In an instant, the classroom where students were taught and solved their doubts turned into a kung fu hall filled with excitement.

I finally couldn't bear it anymore and complained to the principal.

unbearable

Sitting in front of the principal and psychological counselor, I excitedly recounted my experience with Daisy. I was filled with grievances that could not be suppressed.

The principal held my shoulders and said with a smile: "Daisy is indeed a headache, but she just wants to reflect her desire for love through alternative behavior. I can see that you are a caring teacher, try to use more flexibility way to encourage Daisy.”

The psychological counselor specially reminded me to be careful when talking to Daisy and not to hurt her self-esteem, because she had an "unbearable" past.

This reminder made me even more curious about Daisy’s life experience. What exactly is "unbearable", and how can I break through her defenses and resolve the misunderstanding between them?

As the saying goes, heart disease must be treated with heart. I started to write a letter to Daisy every day, writing words of encouragement on a heart-shaped short sign and handing it to her before get out of class every day. At first, she was stubborn and didn't appreciate it. She threw the short-term visa in the trash can several times and ignored it. But I am not discouraged and hope that one day I can win Daisy's heart.

turning point

A few months later, during lunch break near Christmas, Daisy stood quietly at the door of the classroom: "Teacher, can I talk to you?" "Of course." She pulled out the seat next to her and said Take out the private cookies to welcome this distinguished guest. Daisy took her hands out of her pockets and, miraculously, began to share her inner world.

The girl in front of her, who was only twelve years old, had been raped by her biological father since she was a child. Because she did not know how to speak to her relatives and ask for help, she was physically and mentally tortured. Until a few years ago, her mother accidentally discovered her father's evil deeds, angrily called the police, and asked the law to protect Daisy. After her father was sentenced to prison, Daisy was protected by the Child Welfare Act and had a dedicated doctor and lawyer to help her with psychological treatment and related prosecutions.

As she grew older, although Daisy hated her father for being abusive, she did not want to force her father to face legal sanctions and go to a dead end. Every time she saw him in court, Daisy just wanted to know: Did her father love her?

Daisy shed tears as she spoke, and pulled open her left wrist guard. A deep knife mark made me take a breath. It was a trace left after an argument with my mother one day last year.

Daisy's mother was busy with work. After getting married for the second time, her discipline towards Daisy became even more loose and unsustainable.

Love you, love you!

She said quietly: "Teacher, I live a very hard life. Even my biological parents don't love me. I might as well let God take me away as soon as possible!" I pulled the chair closer to Daisy and choked out: "I love you." You, and God loves you more!”

Daisy took out a large handful of the heart-shaped dice I gave her from her pocket. "It's because you gave me so much encouragement that I felt loved. Since God loves me, why did he have to put me in this kind of family and suffer so many injustices?"

"Daisy, God is like an architect who has designed different blueprints for everyone, and we are like houses to be built. The structure and proportions are all in His hands. During the construction process, we will encounter God’s purpose is to make us stronger and stronger in the future, just like the oak trees that have been beaten by wind and rain, and are stronger and stronger than the flowers in the greenhouse.” Daisy bowed her head and said nothing.

▲Daisy made her own Christmas card and spent three days carving out the teacher who cared about her.

You are a unique baby

"Besides, Daisy, the teacher found many unique things in you."

"Am I unique?" Daisy looked at me with wide eyes.

"Are you referring to my unique experience? That sounds really ironic!"

I shook my head quickly, "What I mean by unique is your innate characteristics. You are creative and have great leadership potential. If you can use your personality strengths, you will definitely be able to influence many other people."

Daisy frowned and held her depressed face with her hands, "It's so hard! I feel like I'm useless."

I had an idea and took out Lucado's book "You Are Special" from the bookshelf. "Read this short story. I believe you will benefit a lot. Remember, don't deny your own value because of other people's words or attitudes. In God’s eyes, you are not only precious, but you are unique.”

Daisy's clear black and white eyes now revealed a tenderness that had not been seen before.

"Oh, I almost forgot, teacher, this is for you." Daisy placed a homemade card on the table. The background of green construction paper highlighted the silhouette of a red character in three dimensions. "This is Who?" I looked at her in surprise, "You! Teacher, it took me three days to carve this!" Seeing a hint of wisdom on Daisy's face, I couldn't help but hug her.

"Teacher, Merry Christmas!" Daisy wiped the cookie crumbs from her mouth with her hand.

"you too!"

Although Daisy's smell of hair oil is still there, at this moment, the fragrance emanating from her heart seems to be even more intoxicating...

Author profile
Weiwei Zhou is from Taiwan and now lives in New York. She is a bilingual teacher in public schools. Even though he is busy with family, work and church, he still devotes himself to writing and enjoys the moments of connecting with the source of life during creation.