Craziness

In the past few months, my school's neighborhood has experienced a rise in gang activity. There have been several shootings. On Sunday, there was another shooting. This one resulted in the death of a 25 year old man.
*****
Today, one of my students was very upset and was crying. When I questioned her she told me that she saw some men with guns shooting each other. Her details were foggy and she was very distraught. I had the office call her home for info and looked into getting some emergency counseling. When her mom was contacted, we found out that the incident that the girl was talking about was the same shooting incident from Sunday. The mom reported that the girl didn't actually see it happen but was down the street at a grocery store. They heard the gunfire and ran into the store. The girl heard the info regarding the shooting and it was heavy on her mind.

I have been sad today thinking about this little girl as well as all of the other kids who live in the school's neighborhood and other similar neighborhoods. From what I see at my school, kids are either living in fear of the gang members or idolizing them. This is a regular, everyday life happening for them. It is terrible.

FYI - my student is going to be ok. Her parents are great and very loving. As it turns out, talking to me and my student teacher was a good outlet for her. She also asked if she could write about it in her journal. After our talk, she forgot about it for the rest of the day.

*****
When I got home, I checked my blogroll and read all of the new posts. Two of today's blogs discussed senseless violence like this post I am typing up right now.

What is the world coming to?

What is this World Coming To?

Misguided Third Graders.