a peer, an adolescent, and a child

The start of this semester has been quite hectic. My mind, as well as my home is in utter disarray. It's been go.go.go for the past two weeks, but three people that I've met or been meeting with have put things into perspective for me.

1. Esther. I've never met someone who has been through so much, yet is so thankful in all facets of her life. She's been through trials we only see in those heartbreaking documentaries but in all our meetings, has not uttered a single word of complaint or dissatisfaction. Thanks, gratefulness and humility streams from her mouth and I cannot help but just sit in shame for my own selfish nature. She has taught me to just thank God for everything and anything in my life.
2. Tiffany. One of my new students. She's fourteen years old and has just returned to Korea after seven years in Malaysia. She speaks Korean, English, Chinese and Malay, none of them perfectly, but I am still able to have a normal conversation at normal speed with her. It's amazing to have a student to "really" converse with, and I'm grateful that she's opened up to me about herself. She's quite an ambitious girl but is plagued with your typical adolescent girl insecurities. I had been envious that the other teachers could build this bond with their students that I could never build because of the language barrier. However, Tiffany is my buddy, and we're gonna read books together. :)
3. 은채. She's a feisty, orphaned, fifth grade tomboy who is far too aware of the hardships of this world. She finds living is difficult, with all the homework, peer pressure, and a strict school rule that forbids students from playing in a coveted area of the playground. Hearing her views on life is simultaneously amusing and heartrending, because half of what she says is so true: it is very difficult to live in Seoul, amid ridiculously fierce competition and rigid social expectations. How did she get to be so wise at such a young age?

My encounters with these people are not accidental. I realize that as I am tapping into these different worlds, although I have signed on as the "helper," I am actually the one that is receiving more than giving. As Esther would say, I'm only thankful, thankful, thankful. And as we reach more meaningful depths of the soul, I only hope that I can return to them a favor that is even one tenth of what they are sharing with me.