20th April 2014
The Egg
Jeremy was born with severe disabilities. His parents always knew he would not live to adulthood, but they wanted him to have as normal a childhood as possible. When it came to school, as there were no special schools in his area he went to the school his brother and sister attended.
At first all went well. He was very happy. His classmates treated him simply as, ‘Jeremy’.
As years went on, however, concerns began to be raised, especially from other parents. Was Jeremy holding other children back? Was his awkward twisting and turning and the ‘involuntary noises’ he made, whilst being a source of hilarity for the children, actually too distracting?
“Yes”, the teacher had to acknowledge, “Jeremy’s behaviour was disruptive. But what were they to do?” Some parents thought they knew the answer. Besides if Jeremy wasn’t there, what would anyone lose; it wasn’t as if he contributed anything!
Spring came and Easter drew close. The teacher gave each pupil a plastic egg with the instructions. “Take this home and put something in it that reminds us of new life. Tomorrow you can ‘show and tell’ everyone about what you have done: the best one will win a prize.”
First thing next morning the children began to ‘show and tell’. The first child revealed her egg contained a flower. The next one a plastic butterfly “which started as a little hairy caterpillar, but became something new and beautiful,” explained the child. And so it went on.
Finally it was Jeremy’s turn. The teacher opened his egg to reveal …. nothing! The children laughed and the teacher’s heart sank. Poor Jeremy obviously hadn’t understood. She should have explained things better, and so she tried to move on quickly to the next child. “Miiisss” Jeremy cried out “you forgot to ask me!”
“But there’s nothing in it, it’s empty.”
“But so was Jesus’ tomb at Easter”…came back the answer!!.....Everyone agreed the teacher should give Jeremy the prize for the best egg!
Several months later Jeremy died. The whole school came to the funeral. The altar rail was covered with plastic eggs… all of them empty.
