The sound of a loud scream got by attention when I was standing in a school hallway at the end of a school day. I instinctively turned around in the direction of the scream. There stood a young lady, she later said when she was a little girl she had a negative reaction when she was bitten by a wild bird. The frighten, frustrated Blue Jay flew toward me and perched on top of the right corner lockers located near the north end exist. A feeling of optimism came over me; I felt that the bird would fly to freedom when I opened the door. I tried to entice the bird to fly out of the building by motioning my hands but the horrified bird stood frozen in the same spot. Standing looking at the bird was like a Texas standoff. I stood my ground and the bird stood his. I looked at the bird and the bird looked at me. It reminded me of an incident that occurred during the late 1970’s when I lived in Atlanta, Georgia. One Sunday afternoon I went to an afternoon church service and to my surprise Daddy King the father of Dr. Martin Luther King was the primary speaker. He gave an invitation to discipleship at the conclusion of his sermon. Initially no one responded he then personalized the invitation by saying “If you don’t have a church home please stand.” No one stood and then he made several additional personal appeals, but there was no response, he then said “ If you are here for the first time and you have not found a church home in the Atlanta area please stand.” I stood, Daddy King then said “Please come down to the front of the church.” Our eyes were fixed on each other. There was silence in the church as we stood looking at each other. After a brief standoff I set down and Daddy King quietly turned the service over to the residing pastor. The standoff with Daddy King is somewhat symbolic of the standoff with the frighten Blue Jay bird who refused to budge. Fortunately the standoff did not last long. Mrs. Williams an eighth grade teacher came to my rescue she patiently walked down the hallway. Her demeanor spoke volumes; I immediately sensed that she had some experience in dealing with birds. Mrs. Williams walked in the direction of the bird and said a few calming words and motioned for the bird to fly out of the open door. Rather than flying out of the door the bird flew up the stairway and made an attempt to fly out of the closed windows that faced the north end of the hallway. The bird tried in vain but to no avail. Within a few seconds Mrs. Williams and I had walked up the stairway. The frighten bird seemed to looked at Mrs. Williams and decided to perch on the window ledge. Mrs. Williams quietly walked toward the bird with open hands and gently picked up the bird and walked down the stairway to the north end door and released the bird. The bird flew away into the calm of the cold winter day. Mrs. Williams used her experience of working with birds and her loving caring hands to ease the fear of a confined, frighten bird to release him to freedom. The same has to be done with students. Teachers must handle students with experience and with loving care. When the terrified bird sensed the love and the care of Mrs. Williams he trusted her to guide him to freedom. The bird did not attempt to peck the hands of Mrs. Williams he was relaxed and at ease.Teaching is about building trust and freeing students from the shackles of poor self esteem, fear and insecurity so that they can realize their social and their academic potential. Rev. Micheal J. Darby 910 3528943