No Lines

Something quite unusual and amusing happened to me this morning. I thought it would be interesting to write about it since the event itself, as far as I'm concerned, seemed incredibly original and genuine. It's not too often that something manages to surprise me, but I do have a soft spot for some particular items such as animals, coincidences, and because I'm only human... Children. 

I'm an English teacher, and a happy one, I might add. I like waking up every morning at 5am, looking outside my bedroom window and seeing the day at its fresh start, and finally cursing myself back to sleep for another good twenty minutes. I love all of that, and because of such, there's hardly a day when I'm not thankful enough to be living the life I do right now. 

As I proposed an activity for my 2nd graders I anxiously watched them struggle in perfect agony against it, but all in a good way, I assure you. I asked them to draw a story in one single sheet of paper, with as many characters and lines as they wished. Everything was going perfectly fine up until one of them, a girl, came up to me with one of the most beautifully confusing drawings I had ever seen. No lines, no dialogue. Just the picture of a thousand things happening all at once. 

"That's interesting, and I like it... But where are the lines?" I said.

She smiled malevolently, but with a great deal of kindness in her spirit as she brought herself down to my level and generously explained her genious to me, It`s an action story.