Sometimes a paragraph or two will move me, a lot. This is from an article I just started reading. This scene is from a classroom in Toronto where, for over a decade, the author has been sponsoring a series of sessions to promote social and emotional literacy, as well as empathy, by inviting a mother and her baby to spend time with the students.

"Darren was the oldest child I ever saw in a 'Roots of Empathy' class.

"He was in Grade 8 and had been held back twice. He was two years older than everyone else and already starting to grow a beard. His mother had been murdered in front of his eyes when he was four years old, and he had lived in a succession of foster homes ever sice. Darren looked menacing because he wanted us to know he was tough; his head was shaved except for a ponytail at the top and he had a tattoo on the back of his head.

"Joining in the discussion, the mother told the class how Evan liked to face outwards when he was in the Snugli and didn't want to cuddle her, and how she would have preferred to have a more cuddly baby. As the class ended, the mother asked if anyone wanted to try on the Snugli, which was green and trimmed with pink brocade. To everyone's surprise, Darren offered to try it, and as the other students scrambled to get ready for lunch, he strapped it on. Then he asked if he could put Evan in. The mother was a little apprehensive, but she handed him the baby, and he put Evan in, facing toward his chest. That wise little baby snuggled right in, and Darren took him into a quiet corner and rocked back and forth with the baby in his arms for several minutes. Finally, he came back to where the mother and the instructor were waiting and asked, 'If nobody has ever loved you, do you think you could still be a good father?'"