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Weekend Butler: The Heroes Issue: A grandfather in Israel, a teacher in America. Plus: Hot yoga. No 2nd burger! Gun-toting judge. Major poem. Toothsome recipe.
By
Published: Oct 26, 2023
Category:
Weekend
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THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: David Bowie “magic mask” story. Chavela Vargas. The Lives of Others
HERO OF THE WEEK: ISRAEL
In the photo (above), 85-year-old Shlomo Ron doesn’t look like anyone’s idea of a hero. .When Hamas terrorists invaded his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, he sat in his living room while his wife, daughters and grandson hid in his home’s safe room and shelter. He knew what was coming: when the terrorists broke in, they’d see a lonely old man, and they’d shoot him. Then they’d move on, leaving his family unharmed. Simply, he sacrificed himself for the people he loved. To paraphrase: Greater love hath no man than this, that he sacrificed himself for his family.
HERO OF THE WEEK: AN AMERICAN TEACHER
from Facebook
Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.
And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns.
Who is not getting requested by anyone else?
Who doesn’t even know who to request?
Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated?
Who had a million friends last week and none this week?
Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down — right away — who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.
As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children — I think that this is the most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered. It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the surface of things and into the hearts of students. It is like mining for gold — the gold being those little ones who need a little help, who need adults to step in and teach them how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group, or how to share their gifts with others. And it’s a bully deterrent because every teacher knows that bullying usually happens outside of her eyeshot — and that often kids being bullied are too intimidated to share. But as she said — the truth comes out on those safe, private, little sheets of paper.
As Chase’s teacher explained this simple, ingenious idea, I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. “How long have you been using this system?” I said.
Ever since Columbine, she said. Every single Friday afternoon since Columbine.
Good Lord. This brilliant woman watched Columbine knowing that all violence begins with disconnection. All outward violence begins as inner loneliness. She watched that tragedy knowing that children who aren’t being noticed will eventually resort to being noticed by any means necessary.
And so she decided to start fighting violence early and often, and with the world within her reach. What Chase’s teacher is doing when she sits in her empty classroom studying those lists written with shaky 11 year old hands — is saving lives.
And what this mathematician has learned while using this system is something she really already knew: that everything — even love, even belonging – has a pattern to it. And she finds those patterns through those lists — she breaks the codes of disconnection. And then she gets lonely kids the help they need. It’s math to her. It’s math.
Chase’s teacher retires this year — after decades of saving lives. What a way to spend a life: looking for patterns of love and loneliness. Stepping in, every single day — and altering the trajectory of our world.
POEM OF THE WEEK
“Could have,” by Wislawa Szymborska
It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Nearer. Farther off.
It happened, but not to you.
You were saved because you were the first.
You were saved because you were the last.
Alone. With others.
On the right. The left.
Because it was raining. Because of the shade.
Because the day was sunny.
You were in luck — there was a forest.
You were in luck — there were no trees.
You were in luck — a rake, a hook, a beam, a brake,
A jamb, a turn, a quarter-inch, an instant . . .
So you’re here? Still dizzy from
another dodge, close shave, reprieve?
One hole in the net and you slipped through?
I couldn’t be more shocked or
speechless.
Listen,
how your heart pounds inside me.
DON’T HAVE A BIG MAC IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU
from the Harvard Gazette: Red meat consumption associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk
HOT YOGA REDUCES DEPRESSION
THE WHITE JUDGE PULLED A GUN ON A BLACK MAN IN COURT
And then…..from the NY Times.
AND FINALLY…IF YOU’RE HAVING A BAD DAY
If you’re having a bad day, just remember that the Salzburg airport has a counter for people who flew to Austria instead of Australia.
WEEKEND RECIPE
Moroccan Chicken
If I’ve cooked a meal for you in the last three decades, there’s a good chance you had this. It’s a compelling blend of sweetness, sharp spices and tomatoes to absorb and hold the contrasts.
Serves 4
3 TBS butter or vegetable oil
1 grated onion
1 crushed garlic glove
2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ginger
3 pounds skinned, cut-up tomatoes
2 TBS honey
3 lb. chicken, cut-up
2 oz. blanched almonds
Salt & pepper
In a large pot, gently cook chicken, tomatoes, butter or oil, onion, garlic, spices, salt and pepper for an hour, stirring, stirring often, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken. Reduce sauce until it begins to thicken. Add honey and chicken, stir. Heat chicken through.
Top with blanched almonds. Serve with raisins.
This dish fairly screams for couscous — it’s better than rice — and green peas.
