Nice, France: What I learned in fourth grade and what you can do now

Shannan Younger — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 02:57:12 +0000

I was in fourth grade when I learned about Nice, France, and I learned it because of a rock.

Mrs. Boggs was our teacher and she ran a very tight fourth grade ship. She was no nonsense, and not overly sentimental. On her very orderly desk, there was one item that looked out of place – a gray rock. It was about the size of my fist and quite flat. There was black writing on it. “Nice,” it said. In my 9-year-old head, this was odd. It wasn’t remarkable. It seemed nice enough, but it apparently wasn’t very humble.

After a few months, I finally approached Mrs. Boggs’ neat, large desk and asked her about her nice stone.

She looked at me quizzically for a few seconds, which felt like years. Then she glanced at the rock and suddenly understood. She smiled.

“Oh, that’s not pronounced ‘nice,’ as it is English.” she explained. “It’s pronounced ‘Niece’ in French. It’s a town in the south of France, on the Riviera, and it’s the prettiest place I’ve ever been.” She spoke with a certain reverence.

Then she had me look it up in the encyclopedia. (This was quite a while ago, and certainly pre-Google, you see.)

After I found the proper page with the photos of Nice, France, it was easy to see how right she was, and why it had a special place both on her desk and in her heart.

Our hearts are broken for Nice in the wake of the attack there today in the midst of what were supposed to be joyous Bastille Day celebrations that left at least 77 dead and more than 100 injured.

I thought of Mrs. Boggs. I hope that the people of Nice know that many of us considered their beautiful city to be a very special place and that we send our thoughts and prayers to them, and we hope for a world that is peaceful. I wondered what she’d say, and wished that she could whip the world into shape like she did our classroom of unruly 9-year-olds.

Unfortunately, that’s not possible. With all the uncertainty in our world, from Nice to the chaos in Turkey to the senseless loss of life in our own backyard, it makes adulting and parenting tough. But I’m pretty sure Mrs. Boggs would tell us to figure out what we could do and go do it. (She also advocated doing the hardest task first.)

Some ideas of what you can do:

Donate blood: The American Red Cross is facing a blood shortage – you can learn where to donate blood here.
Donate money: You can find a list of organizations supporting victims of terrorism compiled by the United Nations here.
Focus on the helpers: Mr. Rogers’ mother always said to look for the helpers. Thank them if you can. Expressing gratitude goes a long way toward making the world feel a little less scary, for us and our kids.

Prior Post: New Queen of Katwe featurette offers heartwarming optimism

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Nice, France: What I learned in fourth grade and what you can do now