Naturally, right about the time I become unemployed, my son begins to have deteriorating tennis shoes. Now, after having these shoes for about 4 months, they have gotten to the point that they must be thrown out. At this time, they are no longer useful. The bottom of one of them has come apart now.

 The day before they completely fell apart, Javier's school principal came over to me as I waited on my children to exit the school. She almost apologetically explained that she did not wish to offend me at all, and that she knows I've been having a hard time lately since I don't have any income. And then came to topic of Javier needing some shoes.

She then proceeded to tell me about one of my son's classmates, who had noticed this. The boy had begun a conversation in the classroom about the differences in the sizes of shoes that his classmates all wore, and other topics pertaining to tastes in clothing. This was all done in the most discrete way, in order to gain information so that he could go about doing something for my son. The principal stated that his family would like to get him another pair of tennis shoes, and that she would like me to give permission, and accept the gift from the boy's family. She stressed that he was a Christian in their church, and that this would not be used to embarrass my son in any way in the future. She said that she was speaking to me as one from the church, not as the principal of the school.

She told me of all of these details in between my asking questions, and choking back tears because of what was laid on the heart of that little boy. This conversation coming from this Christian woman in such a caring way touched my heart. I understood very well the way she had carefully explained everything so as not to offend or upset me. In fact, I know from my own experience. Our interaction took me back in time to when I was about 9 or 10 years old; when I was the young child in a Catholic school where they had taken notice that my mother was struggling with finances, and caring Christians felt compassion for our family.

Several people, including nuns from our school, came to our home and brought one dish of food after another in to set them upon our table. With amazement and wide eyes and gratefulness, my siblings and I just marveled at all of the wonderful food that filled our table after they had said their good-byes and left. Being the oldest of the latchkey kids, I didn't allow my siblings to eat anything until my mother returned. So we waited it out, each of us having in mind what food we would eat first. This was especially exciting and we were extremely anxious to dig in because we had been literally living on canned creamed corn on top of a slice of bread every day for I don't know how long, maybe more than a month.

When my mother returned, she blew a fuse. Outraged, she ranted on to all of us about not wanting anybody's pity and our family pride. She promptly called the church and told the person on the other end of the connection that they were to come to our home and take the food back immediately. My brothers, my sister, and I caught glimpses of those who followed my mother's demands;, picking up each and every dish of our feast, and taking it right back out of our front door. We were silent and we softly cried at dinner that night as we each ate from our plates of canned creamed corn on a slice of bread.

It was not because I am oblivious to my responsibilities for my children, and it isn't out of ignorance of being looked upon as "the poor", that I thanked Priscilla and accepted the upcoming gift for my son. It is because I understand something that my mother didn't. I will accept the shoes with gratitude and pride, because they are being given in genuine Christian love. We are the hands that God uses as we follow his example of compassion, as He meets the needs of His children. In other words, Jesus gave my son those tennis shoes. We teach our children that whatever we do for others, we do for Him. Who am I to refuse to be on the receiving end of that Christian truth due to "pride"? Yes, it is difficult to be on the receiving end. But it is right to let my son be blessed. And it is right to let his classmate experience the joy of selfless giving. I told the principal to make sure to tell that student that "I saw Jesus in that little boy today."