Who´s following who?

This past week one of our former students, Carlos, who is now proud to proclaim he is in First Grade, was hanging out in front of the school with his brother. I was busy doing this and that and the other and noticed that Carlos was following me around, kind of like a puppy, but he didn´t wag his tail.

Normally when we have preschool going on we don´t allow kids who aren´t enrolled in preschool to come in, but I was feeling like the softy that I can be, sometimes. So, on this day I just let Carlos hang out with me. He wanted to know what he could do to help. I scratched my head, I didn´t know. For one thing Carlos´ speech is so garbled that you can hardly understand him, even if you are in his family. For another thing I didn´t really have any jobs for 6 year olds at the moment. So, I just let him follow.

But he found jobs. He grabbed the plastic bin I was lifting off the bodega floor and helped me, struggling all the way. He wrestled with all his might to accompany me with the plastic bin.

Later I picked up garbage and bits of trash around the grounds. Since Carlos doesn´t pick up garbage much he just watched me and followed me.

I wonder sometimes who´s following me and who´s watching me. After all, I am an American, bald guy living in a neighborhood as the only white guy. I work in yet another neighborhood where I am the only white guy. I guess you could say, I stick out like a sore thumb.

Who´s watching you? Who sees you doing the little daily things? What sort of a grade would they give you? What kind of a leader would they call you? Are you too busy to be followed?