You have a beautiful face, Miss Langsather

It is amazing how those words have been resounding in my ears.  Maybe it was the African accent, maybe it was the fact that it came from a student whom I really like.  But I don't know, it seems to come down to the fact that we frail, unconfident, human beings are simply needy for love and admiration.  Is there one among us who can boast of not needing this?  Is there a one among us who is so detached and self-sufficient that a compliment or kind word rolls off our back like an unnoticed drop of rain?  I think I could answer for us all a resounding no.  And so, while I think I may be a little shy in interacting with my student for a day or two, I ponder what compliments I left unsaid, especially to the troop of acceptance-seeking teenagers in my charge.  What is it that I need to say that would resound in their ears. . .