How do I find God's beauty in the world?

My grandmother always told me that if we look we can find beauty anywhere...even in a prison, if one were to look closely they could find something that could be considered beautiful.  Where I find beauty though the most is in children and that is probably what has in part drawn me to be a teacher.  

 

Children, I think, understand the world better than adults do or it might be fair to say how adults should view the world. That is through innocence, constant inquisitiveness, and excitement.  I love how little children get excited over the simplest, smallest things, that an adult, chances are, might over look. I see God in every child that I encounter.  Children to me are the most beautiful thing in the world.

 

Biography

My name is Francesca Di Fiore and I am a graduate of John Carroll University with a degree in Early Childhood Education and I have an endorsement in Reading.  

 

Currently, I am completing my masters at Notre Dame College in Special Education. I absolutely love teaching and believe it is such a rewarding profession. Through teaching, I hope to contribute back to society that I have been blessed from, by inspiring the children that I teach. Ironically, though I do not have my own classroom yet, which I am praying daily for, I find that as I am trying to inspire the children, it is from them that I gain inspiration.

 

By Giving, We Receive:

A story about a blind man that helped me to see...

 

I feel very blessed for the life changing experience that I had while attending the Cleveland Sight Center.  I took away a lot from a certain individual who was born blind and I will never forget my experience there.

 

At the sight center, I got to really participate one-on-one with the clients as they began a month long program called Fundamentals of Success.  The majority of the students had some degree of visual impairment but two students were born blind.  The student that was completely blind was the individual that I formed the closest bond with and who left the greatest lasting impression on me.  To my surprise he taught me, the teacher.  We connected through dancing.

 

The first day I spent with the students, I was very excited because the planned social activity was to line dance!  This was perfect for me because I love to dance.  It was a great way to really get to know everyone too.

 

As we were all getting situated and just about to begin the dancing festivities, that is when my soon-to-be new friend came in!  He was all flustered and apologetic that he was late.  I told him not to worry because we were just getting ready to start.  Then he asked me what my name was and introduced himself to me.  It was my first time ever seeing someone with a white cane.  The first words out of my mouth were asking if he was excited to dance and he said YES!

 

Next, he came over next to me, and I am not quite sure how I knew what to do, perhaps it was a slight gesture movement, but somehow I knew to link arms with him and we began dancing together.  We danced for two hours together and we had a blast.  He kept saying, “I’m on fire!” which was cute.  It was a great time and will forever be an unforgettable experience in my life.  Though there was a line dancing instructor explaining how to move right, left, up, and down; I know that without me linking arms with him, he would have easily lost his place when restarting at each new turn.

 

Finally, we sat down to take a break.  He asked me what I like to do and I said reading and then of course he asked what my favorite book was and I said, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”  Quickly, instantly, he said, “Oh, Harper Lee!”  He knew the author of the book!  It was in that moment that I realized we need to focus not on differences but on similarities!  Though I can see and this boy has never, I realized that we were forming a friendship and that it was so easy to talk to him and that I was really enjoying talking to him.  There is a quote that comes to mind by John Fischer that says, “The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure that each has an equal opportunity not to become equal, but to become different.”  To me, this means a lot.  We can find similarities within every difference, but also it is okay to be different and we should celebrate that!

 

After talking a little bit, he asked me what I do and I said I was a teacher.  He was so excited by this and said that all his favorite people are teachers! And then he went on to even say that I was a “woman after his heart!”  I was so struck by this, almost in an overwhelming way, that this boy was expressing such nice things to me without even ever having seen me.  I felt that in such a short amount of time he was able to see who I truly was and that others with vision are blind to see me for me.

I left the sight center knowing that I had a life changing experience.  I had a whole new outlook in that I was privileged to have sight since it is not something that everyone has or gets to experience. 

 

The next day I returned to the sight center and was excited to see again my new friend that I had made.  When I was back to where he was I introduced that I was in the room so that he would know.  His first words were “I am so happy to see you again Francesca.  I told my mom about you and that I had made a new friend.”  I was so touched by his words and told him that I was happy to be with him again.

 

The first event scheduled for the day was a sculpture class.  The students were given cuddle bone to scratch away at and make into their own sculpture creation.  After they were done sculpting, the teacher in charge asked me to go around the room and ask the students what color they would like.  I was overwhelmed by this, since my friend was born blind and had never seen not even one single color in his entire life.  Nonetheless, he told me what color he would like.  As my friend was painting, I tried to be as explicit as possible in my description as he painted so to create a mental image for him of his artwork that he could not see.  I told him that I really liked how the green and blue were blended together and that it looked like tie-dye.  He smiled all the while I explained, as I at the same time, had a big smile on my face.

 

He then asked me about teaching.  I explained to him that I was substituting and praying to get my own classroom.  He said that he is rooting for me and that he knows I will make the kids proud.  Once again, I was so struck by his insight and how kind he was to me, very sweet.

 

From the sculpture class, we moved to self-defense class.  This was really interesting to partake in.  I tried to imagine as much as I could what it would be like to be blind and attacked.  I of course could only imagine how frightful it would be.  The instructor was wonderful in that he showed great techniques how to get away if someone tries to grab your arm.

 

After the end of the class, it was that time that I was apprehensive about.  I had to go around the room and say my good-byes to all the students.  I of course went to my friend last not knowing just quite what to say for last words; bearing in mind I might not ever see him again.  I went to him and explained that I was leaving and that it was so nice to have met him and that I wished him the best of luck.  He said, “I’m going to miss you.”

 

I gave him a hug and of course felt bad but left with a new outlook on life.  My friend may have a disability and I went there to help him but it was actually him that helped me.  He gave me a whole new appreciation for the blessedness in my life.  He, himself, was a blessing with such a bright personality and big heart.  By giving my time to be with him, I had received insight. He was anything but a victim to me.  He was my hero.