Denisse does not care about anyone. Anyone. Frankly, she doesn’t even care if other people care about her. She lives each day in her own world, carrying herself higher than everybody else. She does not follow any rules, not to seem rebellious, but because she makes her own rules. If she does not like you, you will surely know. Most responses cater a single word: “no”. Yet everyone still loves her unconditionally. Why would people give this lady such treatment? She’s seven years old. 

I spent a week of my summer teaching Spanish to young children. These kids ranged from 7-14, but no matter the age, I’ve always hated children. I simply hate kids. However, these children weren’t so bad once I got to know them. Sure, sometimes I had to chase a kid around the dining hall to give me my glasses back, but it was all in good fun. I decided I would not treat these kids as kids, but rather as people. I find it silly to put on a mask towards children, because that’s not realistic. I gave them a level of respect, and naturally, they gave me that respect as well. Though I learned to tolerate most of them, I didn’t necessarily like them. Except for little Denisse. Denisse taught me more than I’d like to admit. 

During one of the classes, the other counselor and I tried to teach the kids a traditional Argentinian dance. This was a partner dance, but since all of these prepubescence’s have never touched someone of the opposite sex, everyone was hesitant. Except for Denisse. We gave her a partner and they immediately started practicing the steps. She held his hand without any trouble. Her and her partner were laughing the whole time, instead of everyone else who was trembling with sweaty palms and shaky arms. Denisse practiced with her partner for the rest of the week. Embarrassment was something she never knew. We also gave the kids one hour to swim everyday, and instead of worrying about how her bathing suit looked on her, Denisse just stayed in the corner and played with a beach ball by herself. 

I truly hope Denisse never loses her carefree demeanor, since it was something I looked up to. Imagine living everyday without allowing judgement to cloud your choices. Even though she made it very clear she was not a fan of me, I will always root for Denisse.