What Sticks

Teachers don't always know what will spark a student's thinking and grow, becoming -- like pine needles in moss -- inseparable from the stuff of personhood.  I re-learned this lesson today when a Chinese student whom I tutor told me about his in-class essay assignment for religion. 

"How do I answer this question?" he asked.  "Does or does not Christianity work for me?  I can't answer that."

"Why?"

He explained that he doesn't believe.

I reminded him that the question is a personal one.  "You can answer it 'no' if that's how you feel," I said.

Slowly then, hesitantly, he talked about St. Augustine.  "He shows that you are never too old to become a better person in your . . . is it . . . soul?"

"Yes," I said. 

"He did bad things when he was young, but he did good when he was old," my student added.  "And I think all people the same.  All people face hard things and all can learn from them.  All people the same.  All should be treated good."

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"So, you see?  You can answer that question!  You don't have to say you believe in God or the divinity of Jesus.  You can write about the values of Christianity you believe in."

"Oh.  Yes," he said, and smiled.

When I asked if he talks like this with the priest who is his teacher, he laughed and said no.  I so wish he would, and I told him that.  I think his teacher would see him differently and know that despite the language difference, he is learning in the way that matters most.

What my student has difficulty expressing in his writing he made clear to me today: he is a serious thinker for whom one course has opened his mind -- and heart.