(39) Challenge

This article is about the same teenager in 791. Through the many months of faithful follow up and a firm but kind approach, the pent up ball of energy in the body of a 13 year old girl has taken to my daughter, Elizabeth.

The young girl came to a group activity of much older girls. She came prepared with a design all mapped out on a piece of A4 paper. Elizabeth was very impressed with the serious approach. After all, none of the other older folks made any such preparation.

This time, the crisis came when the young girl took exception to a grown up spelling her name wrongly. Of course, the mistake was not intentional. The girl's mother chose to spell her name in a rather unusual way. Let's say she is called Yvonne. But on her legal documents, it is spelled as Evon. It would not be unusual for others to spell it the former way as a matter of convention. Yet we must also see the matter from the point of view of an underdog who has been teased all her years in school for this very fact!

Elizabeth was very taken aback when Evon went to tell the "culprit" directly that the latter had hurt her feelings. In doing so, Evon did not consider that the person she confronted was twice her age. Neither did she realized that this person was volatile in character. Elizabeth chose to intervene and made peace between the two. Although she did restore order and somewhat resolved the matter, she was looking to me and other more experienced people for wisdom.

I personally think that she did the best she could under the unusual circumstances. Of course she could bear in mind in future that such conflict came from years of suppressed emotions. Logic alone could not solve the entire problem. I am not saying that Evon did right by confronting, but I suppose it is a step forward  for her to assert her rights after being boxed in by severe school discipline for six long years. Like it or not, it is a healthy step forward for her. We would do better in moderating the seething emotions and teaching her how to express herself in a socially acceptable manner. My days of working with such children are over for good. But it is interesting that Elizabeth has started her season when God sent Evon to stretch her group in learning to love and deal with individuals who required a lot of tough love and patience in the healing process. Definitely I am more than grateful that I can continue to write about this topic through listening to Elizabeth's experiences.