The bad with the good

This dear boy returned to us from his holiday with third-degree burns on his hand and leg. He told me that his mother had burned him, and I assumed it was an accident. Cooking generally takes place over open fires in the home or just outside the front door. But then he explained to me that it was a punishment for stealing 10 rupees (20 cents) from the neighbors. She wanted to brand him as a thief.

When he saw that this news was making me emotional, he widened his big brown eyes and said, "it's OK, Ma'am." As long as I didn't shed any tears over it!

The farcical thing about the situation is that I had spoken with his mother about violence a month ago, when she came to take him home. Out of all the parents at the school, she was the only one I had asked to guard her child from exposure to violence. But I had mainly been concerned that he was seeing it, not receiving it. He's a highly intelligent and sensitive boy who internalizes and has particularly adverse reactions to this sort of thing. But who wouldn't?