Work Begins Again

My 12th year as a teacher began in a rainstorm in the mountains. This year, we have a grant for our students to come out to an outdoor, natural play/therapy area. 

The work day started with everyone sharing their stories from the weekend.

One cried, because her Jewish boyfriend felt he had to go downtown to stand up to Nazis. He stepped out of the crowd on Water St to pee and when he returned the car had already struck.

Another cried, because her husband worked for the city and she worried about his safety. People from all sides are lashing out at how the city handled things, and there's still much more to do. She also had many friends

Another talked about how he kept his kids inside with the TV off. His friends were downtown, but he stayed home to protect his family.

Another left town in the middle of the night with her family to keep them safe.

Another felt guilty for being out of town and returning to find friends who were EMTs cut and bruised.

An older gentleman who works with us, talked about his own experience in the Civil Rights movement. He talked about how it hurt and angered him to be so hated as a young man, and wondered if our students would feel that same pain.

That's not all, but I don't feel it's my place to share more and in greater detail. There was anger, regret, hurt, and sorrow. Everyone was functional and had processed on their own already.

For myself, I don't regret moving Shane out of town. He will be exposed to hate later in life, but I want his foundation firmer before he has to confront it. I do regret not being a force of kindness in town when there was such darkness. A large group of clergy did a prayer walk. I was anxious as to what kind of Cville we would find when we returned home. I was encouraged when Tay and Raheem ran up to greet us. Then the kids rode bikes like nothing had ever happened. I'm not sure how aware they were and I didn't ask in case their parents didn't want them to know (yet).

The rally was a dark moment, but light shines brighter in the darkness. An opportunity to shine exists now.

Then it was down to business.....which was learning about the nature program. Not very taxing. We had lunch and met up at the high school for the convocation. The superintendent had everyone stand and sing "Lean On Me" and "Love Train." There were three hearts made from glow-sticks in the back of the auditorium to honor the three lives lost on Saturday. It was well received!

Tomorrow, we will start training and planning. The students may have a lot of processing to do when they start next week. Then again, a lot of them have been through so much that the rally was just one more thing and the least of their worries. No one will know until Wednesday.

My photos were limited because my phone's camera likes to act up from time to time. I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware issue. I don't care enough to look into it either.