Jeremy's Egg
佚名 / Anonymous
Jeremy was born with a twisted body， a slow mind and a chronic， terminal illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life. Still， his parents had tried to give him as normal a life as possible and had sent him to St.Theresa’s Elementary School.
At the age of 12， Jeremy was only in second grade， seemingly unable to learn. His teacher， Doris Miller， often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat， drool and make grunting noises. At other times， he spoke clearly and distinctly， as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time， however， Jeremy irritated his teacher.
One day， she called his parents and asked them to come to St. Teresa’s for a consultation. As the Forresters sat quietly in the empty classroom， Doris said to them， “Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn’t fair to him to be with younger children who don’t have learning problems. Why， there is a five-year gap between his age and that of the other students！”
Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue while her husband spoke. “Miss Miller，” he said， “there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here.” Doris sat for a long time after they left， staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all， their only child had a terminal illness. But it wasn’t fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore， he would never learn to read or write. Why waste any more time trying？
As she pondered the situation， guilt washed over her. “Oh， God，” she said aloud， “here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared with that poor family！ Please help me to be more patient with Jeremy.”