Three days ago Amos lost his school teacher.
It didn’t register at once when we learned how she had suddenly collapsed one evening and passed on. It was all too close to us, too unexpected, as the day we were told to prepare for the arrival of a child with special needs. She had shared with us Down syndrome success stories, encouraged us to dream big for Amos. She had wanted to conduct a comprehensive assessment of Amos at the end of the year to move him on after his coming graduation. When Amos wouldn't grab on to the flying fox at therapy she could’ve left him on the play mat but she didn’t. She hoisted him. She had wanted him to overcome his fears and have fun like everyone else.
Then, she left us.
Yet a silver lining graces this sad occasion. It reveals the beauty of how she is remembered as one who stepped up to fulfil a service our society so desperately needs. She has closed the chapters of her life as an educator with a passion for children with special needs, who perhaps believed in Amos more than we did. In this way the unpredictability of life puts us on the edge for a good cause. And the tears of her co-workers were testament to her character.
She has given herself in making a positive difference to the unfortunate. She has touched lives; she has spent the last lap of her own doing this beautiful thing. Now at last, she rests.
And for this, we remember her.
"The memory of the righteous is a blessing...” Proverbs 10:7
Photo credit: Adina Voicu from Pixabay