Death and Life

This week has been interesting. Monday I entered the building and heard that one of our former students committed suicide over the weekend. The kid wasn't in my class, but I knew who he was and really liked him. I felt kind of down all day Monday because of it. It made me wonder about life and death and how bad life would have to be for someone to do that. It pretty much put my "problems" in perspective. I have character-building moments throughout my day, but my life is really good.

And then I have another student who lost her Dad about 3 weeks ago. It was an unexpected death, and my heart leapt for the kid. I have no idea how I would handle that as an adult, much less as a fifth grader. So, I knew we would have some rough spots, and she's a pretty good kid so I figured it wouldn't be too bad. Gosh, it's been a rough week. This gal is trying to figure out how to cope and is not finding quite the right strategy to do so. Her teacher and I have been working hard to help her adjust and it's not working very well so far. This kid without behaviors has become a Lostboy Junior. All the while I'm still praying for the key to figure out how to help her. Gosh, life shouldn't be this tough for this kid.

All this life and death stuff has really made me ponder a lot. I turn on the TV to hear the news and our world isn't getting any better. It seems to be getting worse.

So, I have made up my mind to stay focused on the good even in the bad. And even though I will fail at that goal from time to time, I think it's better than the alternative.

I guess that's it for now. Later!