they are indeed precious in His sight.

during class, 6-year-old jayden seemed to get caught up in the moment as he was telling 11-year-old eric and me a rather elaborate story about how he had witnessed a physically violent brawl between a few teenagers the other day; expressing genuine concern/fear and confusion as to why they acted the way they did.

taken from our conversation earlier tonight:

jayden: ...i've never been so scared in my life! it was crazy! like, you never really see younger kids act like that.
eric: fighting's so dumb.
jayden: but why do teenagers act like that?
eric: (while continuing to work on his long and short vowel worksheet) ...because they're going through puberty.
jayden: what's puberty?!
eric: ...i dunno. it's something that everyone goes through.
jayden: well, i hope i never go through puberty. puberty makes people stupid.

i sat there the entire time admiring jayden's childish innocence and naiveté to the situation. the longer the conversation progressed, the more i wished i had all of the answers to jayden's many yet valid questions about violence and why people are so prone to seeking it as a solution to their problems.

after he went home, i couldn't help but feel a little sad in knowing that same innocence and naiveté would eventually harden as he continues to grow up. at the same time, i realized that not all hope for him was lost; as it was still very much evident in his simple desire to be set apart from the rest.