The Least of These

This is for the teachers and for all who "do unto the least of these ..."

"We care for children who put chocolate fingers everywhere, who like to be tickled, who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants, who sneak popsicles before supper, who erase until there are holes in their math workbooks, who can never find their shoes.

"And we care for those who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire, who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers, who never 'counted potatoes,' who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead, who never go to the circus, who live in an X-rated world.

"We care for children who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions, who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money, who spend all their allowances before Tuesday, who get visits from the tooth fairy, who store dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub.

"And we care for those who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who can't find any bread to steal, who don't have rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dressers, whose monsters are real.

"We care for children who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories, who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool, who squirm in
church, whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.

"And we care for those whose nightmares come in the daytime, who will eat anything, who have never seen a dentist, who aren't spoiled by anybody.

"We care for the children who want to be carried, and for those who must, for those who never give up and for those who don't get a second chance, for those we smother with good intentions, and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it."

--Ina J. Hughes