I just have some thoughts...

My heart hurts for my kids this morning.

One of our students was shot and killed yesterday afternoon. Literally less than an hour after leaving school. 3 hours prior he had sat in one of my friends classes. I don't know the student...

but I do.

I know him in the faces of everyone of my students who are living the same life.

I received the e-mail about the shooting last night around 11. I was sad about it - but I was tired and selfish and thinking about my own stuff. It wasn't until this morning, when I saw one of my students run into the bathroom and collapse on the floor in sobs that my heart was really heavy.

Or when I saw a line of students who would normally be running up and down the hallway, flashing gang signs, causing a ruckus and generally being loud and obnoxious...but today they were standing quietly in a line.

Or when I saw this huge black kid...who looked to be about 17...the victims age...hugging a teacher and trying to cover his face and the tears streaming down it.

Even right now there is a child sitting in my room crying. We have counseling services set up in the library but she doesn't want to go.

My kids are KIDS. They shouldn't know pain like this. I know kids die. But it shouldn't be the way this student died...the news said:

The 17-year-old Antioch High School student was wounded and then dumped on Hobson Pike just across the county line in Davidson County, Ashe said.

Dumped is the word that stands out in my mind.

I don't know if it is gang related, but a different news source said that two groups of people were meeting...my guess is it was gang.

But yet - in spite of this...it won't be enough to rid my kids of the gang life they are so deeply entangled with...as FRESHMAN.

If things don't change it won't be long before this story becomes the story of one of my students. As tough as they are...and as hard as they want to be - they are kids. Kids who have been let down by society. Kids who have not been given a fair shot. Kids who end up dead on the side of the road because they didn't have the support they needed.

As incredulous as it seems, my prayer is that through his death, at least one child will choose a better life for him/herself.