Being a Thinker. Showing Compassion.

One of our Core Values at the American School of Dubai is compassion. And one of the characteristics of our Student Profile is thinker. When I visited a fifth grade classroom this week and learned about their recent work in a poetry unit, I also learned about the power that can be found at the intersection of showing compassion and being a thinker.

As I chatted with students about their original poems, one student’s work stood out to me. The inspiration for her poem, “Street Children,” came from her own experiences of traveling to developing countries where she was struck by the lives that these children lead. Her work illustrates how a student can draw upon the traits of showing compassion and being a thinker to tell a story that is filled with depth of emotion and meaning.

Street Children

We watch
Ignored
While you go
Where we will never go

We watch
Unwanted
As you touch
What we will never touch

We watch
Unnoticed
As you eat
What we can only dream of

We are the street children
Alone, not needed
We cry,
Knowing
There is no one listening.

We sob,
Mourning
for the youngest
boy among us,
Whose eyes
lifeless,
still begging
for the food
not given

We run,
Chased
By the police,
Who you set on us
For we are the street children
Alone, starving, unwanted

Dreams crushed
By your selfish hands

Alive, Dying, Dead

We are the street children
Hoping for something
That will never come