hint of subdued anger brimming beneath her voice. “I’ve been concerned, Caleb,” says mom. “You haven’t been yourself. You’ve been very irritable, angry and temperamental. Then next second you’re downtrodden…” says mom, her speech trailing off.
mess,” she says, gesturing with her arm. “And your grades are slipping,” she says, motioning to the homework on Caleb’s desk. The paper is covered with red correction marks. “I’ve already spoken with Mr. Collins again. You have another meeting scheduled with him tomorrow morning. Please open up and talk. It’s good to get a different perspective, kay? Another way of looking at things,” mom explains. “Okay, fine,” Caleb reluctantly agrees. “I’ll go again.”
ready to face another day of school tomorrow. That means more bullying, boring classes, mean teachers, and now, another talk with Mr. Collins, the school therapist. Caleb would rather not bother with any of it. Home hasn’t been fun either. Being an only-child meant Caleb looked to his best friend and favorite cousins to fill the void, but they all moved away. And now, dad’s hardly around anymore since he and mom separated. Caleb is unsure what emotions to feel.
polite response back. They settle in with small talk before getting on topic. “So, to begin,” Mr. Collins collects his thoughts, “We spoke about various issues during our first meeting. It was everything I’ve already heard from your mother: the bullying and fighting, the low grades
he’d rather not talk. Mr. Collin’s waits in extended silence nonetheless, seeing if he’ll respond. “It’s just a conversation,” Mr. Collins reassures. “Nothing too formal. Just to talk and not hold everything inside-“
interrupting, then let’s out a deep sigh. “I dunno. I guess I’m just frustrated. School sucks, and I don’t even feel like being here to be honest. My teachers are mean and have a problem with everything I do. I don’t get anything right in class.
me though ever since I got in that fight. I don’t know if dad’s heard about it or if he’d care anyway. He said he’d help me with school, but he still hasn’t. I only see him every other weekend, or something like that. And mom is barely home. She’s always working.” Caleb continues venting, growing angrier and more worked up as he continues talking. It’s more volatile than expected, but this is what Mr. Collin’s is looking for. He hasn’t heard Caleb open up like this. He waits patiently for him to finish, listening intently to everything he’s saying.
tense. “I’m sorry to hear you feel the way you do,” says Mr. Collins. He’s not too quick to respond, choosing his words well before speaking again. “I see there are emotional wounds that’s been causing you pain. However, I believe that you’re burdening the weight of negative emotion and resentment that you don’t have to carry. “Remember what I mentioned in our previous meeting? The popular saying that a picture is worth a thousand words?
that a word is worth a thousand pictures. I left you to ponder a few questions with the purpose of getting you thinking about things from additional perspectives. So, tell me, what comes to your mind when you hear the word love? What does love look like?”
there is a mother kissing her child goodnight,” Caleb points, “and that picture is of a kid hugging his dog, and I see one that looks like a happy couple,” Caleb continues describing. “I see,” Mr. Collins replies. “All the images you see reflect your interpretation as an answer to my question. Those are good observations, but there’s more.”
make of them. “Describe what you see,” says Mr. Collins. “Um, that looks like an image of men working hard, like, hard labor kind of work. And that one looks like a mother serving her children dinner, but she looks tired and stressed,” Caleb observes. “The photo on the right,” Caleb looks closer, “I think that looks like a father fixing stuff around the house?” “Love can look like many things,” Mr. Collins continues. “Take a look at these.”
photo of the father. “Love is also expressed in other ways, such as a father working hard repairing things around the home to make it comfortable for the family, or a mother preparing dinner every night, even if she is tired.” “Hmm,” I guess I kind of get it now,” says Caleb, processing things. “Very well,” says Mr. Collins. “What came to your mind initially: a mother kissing her children goodnight and lovingly hugging her children is indeed an expression of love, but I present to you a new set of images to illustrate that love often looks different than that.
was going to fight back...” Caleb stops explaining verbally as he gets lost in the visual of the scene playing out before his eyes. Mr. Collins is able to see for himself what Caleb would’ve described.
clenched. It’s obvious he’s ready to fight back. Other students witnessing the drama encourage Caleb to retaliate and fight back. “Do it! Do it!” They shout. “Yeah, don’t be a wuss,” others yell out. “You’re supposed to be tough, not weak!” Others say.
brewing in Caleb the more he thinks about what happened. “I should’ve been strong and fought back!” “Is that so?” asks Mr. Collins. “What does strength look like? What does it mean to be strong?”
that these can exemplify strength,” He pauses, gathering his thoughts. It’s common for people to think being strong means being aggressive or being a good athlete, but being strong goes beyond that.” Mr. Collins perceives that Caleb isn’t fully convinced quite yet. He reaches out and grabs a picture.
it to Caleb. It depicts an unassuming young girl. “Does this little girl look strong to you?” Mr. Collins asks. But Caleb is unsure how to answer. “Let me tell you a story,” Mr. Collins continues, stretching out his arms and hands to expand the picture and step into the scene.
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