THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND I

There is a girl in my fourth period class, who I will let remain anonymous for the time being. I swear she had a black nose from being punched in the face last week. She said she fell.

That was not the only indicator that things were going badly in her life. She normally does really well in my class, turns in all her work, displays thoughtfulness in her answers. But the last couple of weeks she has missed, let's see here.. Ah! Seven assignments, which puts her grade at a 38.8 percent. The lowest F in the class.

Today I asked her to stop talking (please) and she didn't, so I wrote her name up on the board. (That is called a verbal warning, then a written warning) When she continued to make it impossible for her table group to get stuff done, I asked her to please step outside. She said no. I said, sternly, "Go outside, NOW, please."

"Damn, Mr. V. You're stupid!" She exits.

Now, my first response as a teacher is to report that kind of disrespect to the highest authorities. If any student calls a teacher stupid to their face, they are done. There is no excuse for that sort of behavior.

But listen--

My heart broke for her. It did. My heart broke for her. After a few minutes I went out of the class to talk with her and the first thing I asked her was if she was ok. I asked her if her heart was ok. She knew exactly what I meant and I felt like we were both about to cry.

Folks, some of us grew up never knowing uncertainty and pain. Fear and distrust. Some of us had two parents and home-cooked meals and sack lunches. You remember sack lunches? Well, come to school sometime and observe the socio-economic implications of a student with or without a sack lunch.
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If you do this sort of thing, pray for my students. Pray for the one whose nose is bruised. Pray for the one who has letters on her binder from her father in jail. Pray for the one who buys three cookies for lunch. Pray for the one who cries when I say I will call his mother at home. Pray for the one who sells weed to my other students. Pray for the girl smoking dope before school. Pray for the one who did nothing this weekend.

Pray for the ones who will have to fight, claw, struggle, and push their whole lives to have any semblance of the life that was handed to me the day I was born.