B"H

Tzaddik or Miscreant?

During the first gulf war we parents were asked to take turns coming
to school and helping the teachers just in case the kids would need
to put their masks on and get them into the shelters.
My kids were in kindergarten and nursery school respectively, which
were in two adjacent rooms, making it easy for me on days when I was
on duty there.
One day one of the kids was acting out pretty badly. The kindergarten
teacher, a true tzaddikah, Peace be upon her, kept calling
him "tzaddik" (righeous person) when correcting his behavior.
After school was over I asked her why she kept calling that little
miscreant "tzaddik". She answered: "Because that is what I want him
to believe he can be, and thus aim to be, not a description of what
he is."

Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat