Brotherly Love

Three little dark-haired boys, all English language learners, stood in line for breakfast in our school cafeteria Thursday morning. As the first one got his tray, he walked toward the tables and stopped, waiting for his friends. Soon, the second of the three got his tray and joined his buddy. Now there's quite a bit of activity and commotion in the cafeteria first thing in the morning because that's where all our children congregate until it's time to go to class. Several hundred students were in there, along with lots of parents, since it was the first week of primary school. Because of these crowded conditions, I pointed to a table and asked the boys to go ahead and have a seat. They said they were waiting on the third child, who was a year younger and a head shorter. I told them that I'd make sure he knew where they were sitting, but they still were   reluctant to sit down until he spotted them, realizing that this could be better accomplished if they were standing. To put their minds at ease, I walked to the cash register and pointed to show the younger child where his friends were sitting. Only then did the two older boys relax and begin to eat. This is such a simple story, but it touched my heart because it reminded me of the beauty of brotherly love and loyalty.