The school office called me this morning.
Josu was sick; I was being summoned to pick him up.
When I arrived at the school, I found his class in the school patio - getting ready for recess.
We needed to grab Josu's backpack out of the classroom, and so his teacher handed the classroom key over to one of his classmates so that she could open the door for us. She was the cutest little girl you've ever seen: her hair was slicked back into a ballerina bun; her black eyes were sharp and happy; her earlobes were sparkling with the golden hoops hanging from them.
"Thanks for helping us! What's your name?" I asked
she smiled at me "my name is Jihad" she said sweetly "it means holy war; it's an Arabic name"
"Ah yes" I told her. "Did you know that my girl Selma's name is from Arabic too?"
"what does it mean?" she asked
"It means peace; her papa and I named her that because we pray every day that she will be a peacemaker on this earth."
"Oh" she said "well, my brother's name is more normal; my parents named him Bruno"
Ah, little one. . . .
When I prayed for Selma tonight, I prayed for you also - that you too would be a peacemaker on this earth.
