"Just Kids"

Upon hearing Mr. Mucus give out a loud, "Good Job" I looked in the mirror to see who he was encouraging.  Mr. Mucus is not only a glass half full kind of kid but it's half full of chocolate milk kind of kid.  I found him patiently giving spanish lessons to the students in the seat across the aisle from him.  He started with the basics, "How do you say, yes?"  They replied, "Si".  "Correct" he said.  Then he asked how to say water.  They responded correctly with "Agua".  At this point he was so excited about the progress that they were making that he yelled out, "Super" followed by a series of high fives.  He then noticed me looking in the mirror and said, "Mr. Brandon, I'm helping these guys with their Spanish and they are doing GREAT!"  I gave him a thumbs up and he returned the gesture.  The Spanish lessons continued with colors and numbers with his students responding correctly each time.  You could tell how proud he was of their great progress.  I decided this was not the time to tell him that they were new to our school and had move here from a Latin American country and that Spanish was their primary language.  It also occurred to me that he did not see them as Latino or foreign.  He just saw them as kids no different from himself. Their hair, eyes, and skin were all darker than his but they were just kids.  Another lesson learned from my teacher Mr. Mucus.