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today sammy came downstairs around five o'clock, full of energy and excitement.  he held a ruler in his hands, tauntingly waving it about as he entered the room.  sam and aishah began to playfully engage each other, aishah trying to steal the ruler from sam's hands.

at some point, though, the ruler struck aishah on the arm which upset her deeply, more deeply than the moment warranted, in my opinion. 

"DON'T hit me," she said with firmness and conviction.

"He didn't mean it," said isiah, sam's brother.

isiah and aishah then exchanged words, words which became increasingly heated.  finally, aishah had enough.

"Shut up you faggot," she screamed.

obviously, the situation was now out of hand.  i took aishah aside, and sent isiah in the opposite directions.  they both sat and chilled while i took care of some other business.

"aishah," i said.  "what are we going to do?"

she proceeded to tell me that she "DOESN'T like to be hit."  hmmm...

we talked a while longer and, on her own, she came to the conclusion that she needed to apologize.  

at this point sam, isiah, and aishah were the only students left.  i sat the three of them down and said: "boys, aishah has something she would like to say."

aishah said: "isiah, i'm sorry i got so mad and called you a name...sometimes i get really angry and say things i don't really mean."

isiah said: "that's ok aishah...i'm sorry i got into your business."

sam said: "i want to apologize too...aishah, i'm sorry i hit you with my ruler."

the conversation continued...they talked it out, all on their own, with no help from me.  then they went and got a game and played together until their parent's picked them up.

and there you have another bird street tale of ugliness and beauty...forgiveness and redemption, third and fourth grade style.