I teach at a small private high school. About 50% of our student body are international students. This obviously means our student body is very diverse in lot of ways …. language, customs, holidays, and religion.
As an employee, I am allowed to answer any of their questions. However, I am not to push my customs, traditions, religion on them.
A young Chinese girl came to me and said, “Mrs. X was telling us about the Christmas Story. Do you know it?”
I smiled and replied, “Yes. You mean the story about the birth of Jesus as it is told in the Bible.”
It was at that exact second that her demeanor completely changed. She exclaimed in her broken English, “NO! Not the Bible. I don’t want to know the Bible. I want to know the movie.”
I backed off. I told her I had seen that movie a long time ago.
I did as was expected of me by the rules of the school. I didn’t press the issue. I didn’t tell her about Jesus. It was obvious that she didn’t want to hear anything about the Bible or Jesus.
Did I do the right thing? I wanted to tell her all about the birth of my Savior. I don’t think it would have meant anything to her though because she didn’t want to hear.
I am feeling frustrated, sad, guilty, etc….
Thoughts….
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