When a teacher revealed he was gay during a lesson on homophobic bullying, he got a lot of gasps, shocked looks, and questions.
“Reading it brought tears to my eyes and it took me a little while to compose myself"
But he also received a very special letter from one of the little girls in his class, who felt moved by his honesty.
It read:
Dear Mr R
*Even though you’re gay, I will always treat you the same way as I do now. I still think about you the same way as I used to. *
You’re a great teacher and these are just some of the word’s (sic) that I would describe you as: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, awesome and brave.
The reason why I say brave is because you shared a personal secret which was very brave.
You don’t have to feel scared because I know that everone in the class feels the same way as I do.
From A x x
PS. We are all proud of you
What a wonderful little girl.
The teacher told PinkNews: “Reading it brought tears to my eyes and it took me a little while to compose myself.
"When I thanked her she just shrugged and repeated something one of the boys in the class had said during the lesson, ‘It’s just your life’. Then she went back to her maths.
“For my class it was a surprise sure but, to them, it was just something simple and easy to file away as another piece of information. There was no judgement, no follow up, just acceptance.
“Now, I can mention my fiance as easily as any other teacher and my class know me a little better. I’ve had a lot of letters and cards over the years, but this one I know I’ll keep forever.”
There are so many things we can learn from children, aren't there?