A Christian, A Catholic, and a Muslim Walk into a Bar...

...Okay, Okay. They didn't really walk into a bar because that would not be school appropriate, but they did (fortunately for me) walk into my classroom! It turns out teaching the pre-collegiate summer program at University of Colorado Denver was a blessing because in its two short weeks the program gave me a chance to meet some really cool students and teachers' assistants.

Meet Manuel, Fernando, and Omar, three students who really stood out in the room. These are some seriously awesome boys. From the first day I met them, I could tell that they had some positive energy to send out to the universe, and they didn't waste any time showing me their promising nature!

The first day of my ethnic lit class, we had small group discussions about culture. Using a conversation guide, students had to find out something interesting about their group-mates' cultures and then come up with similarities and differences. Let me sum up what these guys found out about each other.

All three of us are religious, but we have different religions. One of us is Christian, one of us is Catholic, and one of us is Muslim. I guess that makes us different. But, our religions are also our similarities because we all believe in one higher deity who encourages us to be good people and treat the people around us with love and respect.

I cried when I read this. Cried. What a beautiful thing to acknowledge. And, they figured this out in a 10-minute conversation! There are millions of people in this world who can learn from these boys. Everyone cross their fingers that they grow up to be ambassadors, or at least social activists.

Seriously, this generation will make a change!
lovemaura