The Price of Shoes

A little sad story for you today. I am going to keep this one short because it breaks my heart and I am too sleepy for tears right now. A boy in the reading program who is about 8 years old named Francisco did not show up for class the other day. Today, Keeton asked him why. His response...his shoes were broken. This poor dear child did not go to school because his shoes were falling apart and he did not have anything else to wear. Wow. I understand that he cannot go barefoot and Keeton and we are trying to find him a pair, but wow. Wow. It just breaks my heart. He lives alone with his dad and has very little money and could not go to class because he did not have shoes to wear. Suddenly, the day where I could not go outside for recess because my sister stole (yes, stole) my earmuffs (don't worry hehe she still feels guilty about it) seems so small. It just broke my heart to hear and very simply paints the picture of the lives of SO many of the kids I am privileged to teach.