I feel like the average high school doesn't usually have to deal with tragedy. I think for most kids in high school, they go along complete their four years and rarely ever think about losing a friend or multiple.
Unfortunately this creates kids that think they're invincible. As a teacher I overhear all kinds of crazy stories. And I think to myself how lucky many of my students are because they never have had to deal with a tragedy or a death among classmates. But I also think because of that, they lose reality of what actually can happen when they put themselves in bad situations. And not all tragedies even come from bad situations.
Most kids don't think twice about what they do on the weekends, who they hangout with or the choices that they make. Because nothing bad will ever happen.... Right???
When you're in high school you don't focus on the big picture... Because well you don't have to! Making decisions on a Saturday night rarely gets you thinking about how they could affect the rest of your life. Trust me, I was in high school not that long ago (okay it was a little while ago). But what about those Friday or Saturday nights that change your life forever???
When I was a junior in high school, I lost one of my favorite people that I had known and been friends with since sixth grade. You know those guys in school that are popular, super athletic, always seem to have a good day, and everybody just loves??? That was Keith.
I'm met Keith in sixth grade after I began attending Eagle Peak Middle School. Now this middle school is about 10 minutes out of town and I knew about six people when I started. Keith was one of the first people that I became friends with because we sat next to eachother in English. He always had a smile and was always super friendly. So duh! We needed to be friends.
This time of year always reminds me of Keith. Football season and cross country season... Throughout middle school and some of high school he dated one of my close friends, so he was always kind of around. Plus his mom was my bus driver a couple years.
Keith was a runnin fool...
As you grow older, and go to a larger high school (in our case), people you are friends with change. That's normal, but there's always those people that kind of have a part of your heart, they're just good people that will always say hi and always be there if you need to talk. That was Keith.
Keith and his story, changed our high school class forever. I still remember getting the phone call that he had tragically passed away. It was surreal for my friends and I. And while we were juniors in high school and a lot had happened since six grade, losing a classmate was something that affected the way I viewed the rest of high school. And it affects the advice I give to kids in the classroom now. Life can be short. It's possible not to get second chances, redos, or do overs. Accidents and some bad choices don't just affect the people they harm they can affect an entire population.
In this case the population was our high school. Keith's funeral was and still is the biggest funeral I have ever been to (and I've been to my fair share). People sat everywhere. It was also one of the most sad funerals I've ever been to. Story after story and people sobbing, all trying to understand why we lost someone so young, so unfairly.
I know my friends and I still miss Keith on a daily basis, and we carry his memory with us wherever we go. Our graduation he had been gone a year and a half. It had never rained in June, as far back as our principal could remember. It mostly was a dry day. We all sat out on the chairs during the ceremony and at one point, the skies opened up and it just down poured. We were completely soaked, but everybody laughed and looked around at each other, because we knew that that was Keith's way of being with us on graduation day.
Kids today act invincible....
"Nothing bad can happen"
"It's all just for fun"
"We'll be fine"
"Don't worry"
I hear that every Friday as I tell kids to "have a great weekend and make good choices". But at the same time it's scary every weekend wondering if I'll see them again on Monday morning. Thankfully the answer has always been yes. Heaven forbid when it's not....
I hope the day never comes where I have to go to school on Monday and find out I lost a student. I pray every weekend that my kids make good choices. So many of my kids are "my kids". Well, I'm not old enough to have kids in high school but I still care about them like they're my children. Not all of them have supportive families or tell their parents everything about their life. Some need those teachers that support them, talk to them and are there for them. That's actually my favorite part of being a teacher.
It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. -J.K. Rowling
