“Please Sir, I want some more” by Stuart Segall

In the movie “Oliver” young Oliver does the unthinkable and walks up to the master in the house and asks for more soup!  After a harmony of gasps, the next words out of the mouths of all the adults are “What?”

Anyone watching the movie would have to have a heart of stone to side with the “adults” questioning the young boys’ request. The scene compels the viewer to a heart of compassion for Oliver.  Even though it is a movie, you feel like jumping onto the screen and quickly giving him another bowl of soup.

This writer loves this scene in Oliver for it reminds me of myself. I know within me a child still resides.  Children crave love and attention, just like Oliver craved more food.

Recently, I had a long-time teacher email me asking for advice on visiting with a former student who she had helped in his young teen years.  The former student was now in his early 30s and he wanted to tell his former teacher about the tremendous impact of her help on his life. 

This email took me on a time machine from my earliest memory of my first teacher to my last one. To this day I can remember my nursery and kindergarten teachers and all who followed them, all the way through college (I am now 70).

I know what this teacher did for that young man, who was once a lost boy, and what an incredible, wonderful thing it was in his life.  I wish I could look back and have had a teacher I could reconnect with to thank them for what they did for me. I just can’t! There are some teachers I would probably like to apologize to for perhaps being a pain or a test, but there is not one I could connect with like this young man.

There are so many memories of each year of my life of “looking for love in all the wrong places.” Of staring and wondering what it would be like to be like other kids who had the attention of the teacher or coach for their oral, written, artistic, musical, or sports fields. Oh, how my heart longed to have something like that to win their attention for just a moment in time. 

At times, my desk would be moved next to the teacher’s because of talking too much or not paying attention, never for anything good, but this was good enough for me to experience some form of closeness.  It is easy to remember being actually disappointed when my desk was then moved amongst the other students.

I believe that had some teacher done for me what she did for this young man who is now seeking her out, would have changed my path perhaps more than I realize.

In reflection, I think the most important, meaningful thing that came out of it was my ability to empathize. I worked in behavioral health for many years, and one thing I find in common with people I have helped is the natural human hunger to be significant or a little bit special. We humans are wired to want to be significant and so we wander, roam, and search for ours. 

Most every case file or recorded assessment I have read and every catharsis that I listen to of those that I have helped, speaks to this.  So, as I day to day work with people, I try to remember how important it is to make each person I meet feel like they are a diamond in a coal field, or that there are “none like them”.

No, I don’t insincerely flatter them.  I try to show them their unique specialties and assets I observe and work with them on how to maximize their assets and minimize their liabilities.

As with myself, a child still dwells within those I serve.  I find when I address that child who probably went through a lot of parental neglect and never got affirmations in school that would have helped them, I still have this chance and moment to give that to them.

I am so impressed with the clout and power of all teachers and coaches who see within as they teach.  Perhaps when you encounter struggling adults who still might be “looking for love in all the wrong places”, you might discover that the child in them is like the little boy, Oliver, who expresses, “Please sir I want some more”.

When I see a classroom of children, I think of what might be going on in their lives that is impacting them negatively.  I think of the kindness of a teacher or coach who has eyes to see them and ears to hear their hearts. This is true for children of all ages.  Children may still be inside adult tents and shells.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain – Philippians 1:21

Living in and with Christ, so that life is Christ, means following Christ. It means serving others in his name.  It is the greatest calling, the most beautiful mission in all of life.  To serve others in the name of Christ.

All humans search for and seek significance.  It is a powerful driver.  All of us, as we seek the true and ultimate significance found only in Jesus are like Oliver — “Please…I want some more.”

When we find Jesus, we find that our search for significance begins and ends with Him.  He will always give us more!

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Stuart Segall lives about an hour north of Seattle.  He has spent most of his adult life counseling, encouraging, inspiring and uplifting others.

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