We live a complicated world...I can’t help but carry a heavy heart for all those lives lost and their families hurting so much today in the Parkland school community in Florida. As a teacher, I see students everyday. I have had the privilege of seeing them grow and mature and graduate. There is no greater satisfaction in knowing that you were part of that life; even though it my seem as small as a grain of sand, you were part of their process, and they made it to that important rite of passage called graduation. Those moments are the ones you live for as a teacher.
I have had my handful of challenging students in the past. I think of all of them, but mostly those that I was not able to reach. Sometimes I tell myself, “please God, I hope that one doesn’t slip through the cracks...!” Because, sadly, some will. I have felt at times so helpless about it, but it is what it is.
I have always felt that, as an educator, I have a great responsibility in my hands in dealing and caring for children. Outside the school walls, these students have personal lives. They encounter experiences unknown to us. What battles or hurts or challenges do they face? Who is there to give advice or to lend a hand or just to simply embrace or even feed them when they go home? Many times, there is no one. There are so many reasons why kids don’t have the support they need and deserve: abandonment, neglect, abuse, divorce, illness, loss of a parent, their surroundings, their economic situation, etc. And then to complicate things even more, we have guns. Gun control is an important, but very volatile issue. But before we look to the gun, the means to this very tragic end in Florida, we have to look at ourselves.
How do we treat each other? Are we polite, gracious, respectful? How do we treat our kids? Do we really SEE our children? Do we know what is truly ticking inside? Do they know us back? Do they understand our hard work and sacrifices as well? Are we doing a good job? I know, it’s easier said than done. I know I have strived for all my life in building a good home, but it does have a glass ceiling. Everyone’s does. I have made my share of mistakes, and I cannot judge others without looking at myself first. Kindness is not automatic; you have mentors, you learn by observing and doing, you practice it until you get it right. Some days you’ll get it, and those days will be good ones, and other days, that glass ceiling will crash. And there will be pain all around. Lives changed, even lost.
However difficult it may seem, you get that broom, clean it up, put it up again, try once more, and do it better than you did before. And then maybe, hopefully, this chain reaction for the good will outnumber the bad.
In my watch, it won’t be perfect, but I will do my best. And please, do your part, too.
To make things better, we have to go to the crux of it all: how we are as people.
Be kinder, be better...xoxo H
