A girl in his class had an accident on her bicycle one day. She was lying, curled up and weeping, in the school driveway, when the teacher crouched down beside her. Now, Nancy, he demanded insistently, analyze your thoughts. Be honest with yourself. All she needed just then was a little comfort and sympathy.
People deceive themselves constantly and in countless ways.
To reproach her on such an obvious issue, when she was at her most vulnerable, displayed an insufferable sense of superiority and belief in his own infallibility. Love a child when he weeps, and he may be the more ready to listen to reason after he s calmed down. And maybe it isn t really reasoning that he needs anyway. It is difficult enough to deal wisely with living situations. It is far more difficult to create them artificially, for the purposes of instruction.