Most teachers are furious when their students fall asleep in their class. However, one high school teacher is going viral on Twitter for explaining the reason why he recently had no problem with a pupil sleeping during his class.

The entire nation has fallen in love with longtime English teacher Monte Syrie after he took to Twitter to tell a powerful story of empathy and kindness. When one of his students at Cheney High School near Spokane, Washington fell asleep in his class, he allowed her to keep sleeping for a powerful reason:

Meg fell asleep in class yesterday. I let her. I didn’t take it personally. She has zero-hour math, farm-girl chores, state-qualifying 4X400 fatigue, adolescent angst, and various other things to deal with. My class is only a part of her life, not her life. No, she did not use

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

her time wisely in class yesterday. She didn’t get her essay turned in. She knew that. I knew that, but I didn’t beat her up about it. Didn’t have to. She emailed it to me last night at 9:00 PM. On her own. I know we all somewhat subscribe to this notion that there’s a right way

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

of doing things, and letting kids sleep in class falls outside the boundaries. I get it, and I’m not suggesting that we make it a permanent part of repertoire /routine, but I am suggesting that we sometimes trust our instincts, even if it goes against the grain, maybe especially

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

if it goes against the grain, for I am not always convinced the grain best considers kids. In a different room, Meg may have been written up for sleeping in class and given a zero for a missing essay, but she wasn’t in a different room; she was in my room. My room.

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

And in my room there are lots of things I CAN do. I can’t control the world outside. I can’t offer Meg a math class later in the day. I cannot feed her horses (many horses) in the morning or evening. I cannot run 6 race-pace 300’s for her. I cannot spirit away her teen trouble.

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

But I can give her a break. She was not being rude or disrespectful yesterday when she nodded off. She was tired. So I gave her a break. I can do that. And I want to believe, I have to believe–else my life is a lie, that it will come back in the end. And it did. Meg got her

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

essay done. In fact, serendipitously, she proudly told me so when I ran into her at the grocery store at 6:45 this morning. She was getting some breakfast before her 7:10 math class. She’d been up since 5:00 doing chores. #myroom #project180

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 16, 2018

Monte could not believe how much support he received for the way he handled this situation!

“I did not expect the staggering outpouring of support from around the country as educators, parents, and others lit up my feed all day long with likes, retweets, and comments,” he said. “I don’t think it even comes close to qualifying as trending or going viral, but in the last twenty-four hours this thread has made over 40,000 impressions and the number is still rising. I am not sharing that from a place of arrogance. I am sharing that from a place of hope.”

#sappysysong pic.twitter.com/ZPqXWyS0Ua

— Monte Syrie (@MonteSyrie) May 10, 2018

“It tells me that there are many out there who come from a place of compassion and empathy in education,” he continued. “It tells me that there are many out there who understand that we are not producing products in our classrooms; we are helping humans grow. It tells me that there are many out there who believe that trusting our instincts and going against the grain when it benefits our kids is okay. It tells me that I am not alone. I am glad that I am not alone. I now know that more than ever. And it’s all because Meg slept.”

This story can teach us lessons about how to behave both inside and outside each other. A little empathy can go a long way in this world, and we never really know what any other person is going through in their lives. If we all gave each other more breaks now and then, and cut each other a little slack, the world would be a better place!

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