A Moment of Seriousness

As most of you probably know, I work at a school where the lives of my students are anything but easy. Let's just say Leave It To Beaver never saw this part of town.

This last week I went into work to find out that a student of mine had been shot in the leg during a shootout between two of the neighborhood's drug dealers. The little girl, whom I will refer to as "Jane," was wandering around her housing project when she got caught in the crossfire. She managed to make it home where her father called 911. She was rushed to the hospital and quickly released after the wound had been taken care of (no insurance you know). She was terrified of going home so she spent the rest of the week resting at her Grandma's house.

Upon hearing the story I was obviously stunned. A few of the circumstances surrounding the incident bothered me (setting aside the fact that a little girl was shot). First of all, what the hell was Jane doing wandering around a notoriously dangerous neighborhood at 11:00 pm on a school night? What was a 9 year old doing outside alone at 11:00pm at all? In addition, where were her neighbors? It wasn't until she managed to get herself home that 911 was called. Every person in the housing project (including some of her classmates, my students) could hear the gun shots, but apparently no one thought it necessary to call the police.

Equally disconcerting was the reaction my students had to the news that a classmate had been shot. They felt bad for her, but there was a noticeable absence of surprise in their reactions. They were much more curious as to the status of the shooters. Did the police know who they were? Had they been caught? Were they in jail yet? There was also a lot of speculation as to who's relative or friend it was that had shot Jane. This is an issue of great concern to the Staff members. The likelihood that the shooters are known to the kids is very high. What will their reactions be if/when they find out it was a father or uncle of a classmate? If something like this had happened to a classmate of mine when I was 9, I would have been shocked and afraid for my own safety and the safety in my neighborhood. It is disheartening to me that shootings are such common occurrences in the lives of these children that they aren't even phased by a classmate getting shot.

When I see things like this, I sometimes wonder if we are all crazy for bringing children into this world. Obviously, this situation grew out of one of the worst neighborhoods in one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country, and in no way represents a "normal" childhood. It's not like there's no hope, but sometimes thinking about it all can be overwhelming.