Kindness

We went to a family dance at the girls' school on Sat. and what I witnessed gave me hope that some people really are teaching their daughters to be kind and caring.  There was a line for face painting and true to form T was oblivious to all others waiting and marched right to the front.  She wasn't intentionally rude, she just saw the lady painting faces and everything and everyone else became irrelevant.  I could've jumped right in, but I sat back to see how she handled it.  Unfortunately, the ADULT face painter handled it very poorly and was extremely rude.  T was on the verge of tears and headed to the back of the line. Then the DJ got to her One Direction request at just the right moment and it was back to busting a move and stimming on all the lights.  After the song was over she walked back over to the face painting line and was sad and confused to see there were other people in the place she had been in.  I again started over, but stopped myself to see what would happen.  I'm so glad I did.  The 2 girls she'd been behind pulled her into line and put her in front of them.  Of course all those behind were upset and started voicing it.  These 2 girls both firmly told everyone that T was with them and they were saving her spot.  Standing in line has NEVER been her strong point.  There could literally be 1 person in front of her and she would still lose her shit.  Not to mention that she just gets distracted by something else, like she did with the One Direction song, and then not understand why she can't just come back to her old spot at any time.  Every time she started to wander off or whatever, those 2 girls redirected her and reminded her that if she wanted her face painted she needed to stay with them.  They talked her through it and shut down any complaining from the back of the line.  She happily got a huge snake painted on her face and then moved on to more dancing and stimming without realizing how awesome that moment just was.  I went and found the girls, shook their hands and told them Thank You for looking out for her.  Later I asked T who the girls were and if they're in her class.  She said neither are in her class. She knows one from school, but the other was just a cousin T had never met.  It's been a rough year with some kids saying some very hateful and hurtful things to her because she doesn't "fit the mold".  I know that will only continue and it breaks my heart, but this one act of true kindness and empathy gave me hope that there will be others who do the same.  And Thank You to the parents who are teaching your children what it truly means to treat ALL others as you want to be treated.