Power

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." This line is quoted in the movie Akeelah and the Bee, which I was watching this morning with a class of high school students in a TEP, or Transitional Education Program. This are students, mostly from Liberia, whose education has been disrupted by war. They are loud, needy and loveable. One of them told me that in Liberia people were sometimes asked, "Do you want long sleeves or short sleeves?" In other words, "Do you want your arm cut off at the wrist or the shoulder?" These teenagers know more of suffering than I will ever know. I feel humbled by the experience of spending time with them.