Wonders

Perhaps you have heard or read this story before now, but I have a different perspective to submit to you. Here goes.

A teacher was asking her students to list seven wonders of the world and explain them to the class. The assignment’s goal was to help the children to recognize seven wonders, either natural or man-made of the world. There was a silence in the classroom as the students completed their answers. Each student continued to write what they felt were the correct replies to the question.

Finally, time was up, and the teacher started to call on the students in the class. One student, replied, “There are natural, and man-made wonders, I could not decide what you wanted, so I wrote nothing down.”

Another student was called on to answer, they said that there were seven natural wonders of the world and proceeded to list them. “I chose Mt. Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, of course, the Northern Lights, and finally, the Grand Canyon.” The teacher was satisfied with this answer, but another hand was raised in the class.

The student proudly stood up and stated. Seven man-made wonders of the world should be addressed. “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, Mount Rushmore, Christ’s statue in Rio de Janeiro that overlooks the harbor, The Colosseum in Rome, and finally the Great Wall of China.”

The student proudly sat down, smugly looking at their classmate who had talked about the natural wonders of the world. As the other students discussed the difference between natural and man-made wonders of the world, which was better, grander, more spectacular, a lively grade school discussion of hand-raising and differences of opinion continued. Finally, the teacher said the class would vote on which was better, man-made wonders or natural wonders, and that would be the lesson for the day.

Hands were raised for one or the other, each student had an opinion, but one child who always sat at the back of the classroom didn’t vote. The teacher saw this and asked the child, “Why didn’t you vote? Your opinion counts, just like the rest of the students.”

The child said in a quiet and quivering voice that she didn’t feel the natural or man-made wonders were the real marvels or wonders of the world.

The teacher asked the child, “Can you say something about this lesson?” She was hoping to help the child become engaged in the class activities as this quiet person always tended to shy away from group activities.

The child stood up and, with a trembling voice, stated to speak. “I am having a hard time hearing you, pleas speak louder and come to the front of the class.” Being timid does not help by going to the front of a class to answer, but the child drew from inner courage and slowly walked to the front of the class. All eyes were on the student as they started to speak, some of the other students giggled, crossed arms in an attempt to intimidate the student.

Gathering an inner strength, brought on from an eternal belief the child said, “I believe the seven wonders of the world are, to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh and to love.” The class was silent, arms uncrossed, and an understanding transcended the class. The child went on, “there is one other wonder that is the best of all, and that is – to pray.” And with saying that, the child sat down. The bell rang, indicating the class was dismissed.

The students gathered their belongings using the wonders the bashful student stated, not all of them but most of them. They exited the class a lesson learned.

The student went on their way knowing they had shared, shared perhaps for the first time, because they had prayed just before going to the front of the class for a chance to be courageous, to speak about what they believed.