Tweet
I was out of town last weekend, so I didn't see this thread until this weekend when someone responded to it. Like everyone else, I was horrified and appalled.
I asked myself if I should respond and if so how? Then, I was nudged into action by the voice of my eighth grade English teacher's quote of the day. “The only thing necessary for evil to exist in this world is for the good to stand by and do nothing.”
(Yes, she was a public school teacher. I am an Occupational Therapist working with Special Education students with in the school. Legally, we can teach the golden rule. We just don't reference the source. In fact, during our beginning of the year inservices our elementary school principal stated that 20 years from now the children may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel...just remember we are teaching those who will be taking care of us when we are old. She was indicating that it is our responsibility to teach values to the children and that they will shape the society in which we live.)
I was reassured by the posting indicating what the perpetrators will face in the legal system as well as in prison. One way or another they will receive justice. I was also impressed by Big Frank's comments about his son's reactions and Jackio's compassion.
In my opinion, we are focusing to much on the perpetrators. Negative attention is better than no attention at all. Criminals often commit crimes for the notoriety in the media. The judicial system will take care of them and due to the hienous crime the prosecutor will love sending them to jail. Those individuals do not deserve another minute of our time.
The focus needs to be placed on the 21 year old boy and his family and how they are coping. I was reassured by the compassion and empathy of the high school students at Big Franks School. Are they in the same district? We need to encourage those students or the students at Jackio's school to put those feelings into action and enfold that family in community support. Since the boy was living at a facilty that also housed the mentally ill, I am assuming that the family has limited financial resources. Are they able to afford the hospital bills? Could some the high school clubs (Stuco, National Honors Society, Key Clubs, FCA or church youth groups) college clubs, or civic groups (Optimist, Kiwanas, Lyons, or Church Groups) organize a fund at a local bank or other financial institution, help the family with meals/child care if needed as they spend time at the hospital, or organize a welcome home party for the young man when he gets out of the hospital. (This would be a fun activity for high school students or college students.)
I don't have very many creative ideas of how to help someone in this situation. Perhaps, Steve and Nancy might have some appropriate ideas of what the family may need. Wouldn't it be great if the focus of this thread would be how to help the family rather that the perpetrators. Unfortunately, the boy will probably have scars from this experience. At this point the family probably has questions about humanity and the young man will have issues of who to trust. Wouldn't it be great if they could say although there are bad people in the world, but the number of good people far out number they based on their experience at a tragic time.
Wouldn't this be a neat way to teach our students that one person can make a difference. Those lessons are every bit as important, perhaps more important than how to diagram a sentence.
The measure of a society is how they choose to take care of those who can not care for themselves.
I asked myself if I should respond and if so how? Then, I was nudged into action by the voice of my eighth grade English teacher's quote of the day. “The only thing necessary for evil to exist in this world is for the good to stand by and do nothing.”
(Yes, she was a public school teacher. I am an Occupational Therapist working with Special Education students with in the school. Legally, we can teach the golden rule. We just don't reference the source. In fact, during our beginning of the year inservices our elementary school principal stated that 20 years from now the children may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel...just remember we are teaching those who will be taking care of us when we are old. She was indicating that it is our responsibility to teach values to the children and that they will shape the society in which we live.)
I was reassured by the posting indicating what the perpetrators will face in the legal system as well as in prison. One way or another they will receive justice. I was also impressed by Big Frank's comments about his son's reactions and Jackio's compassion.
In my opinion, we are focusing to much on the perpetrators. Negative attention is better than no attention at all. Criminals often commit crimes for the notoriety in the media. The judicial system will take care of them and due to the hienous crime the prosecutor will love sending them to jail. Those individuals do not deserve another minute of our time.
The focus needs to be placed on the 21 year old boy and his family and how they are coping. I was reassured by the compassion and empathy of the high school students at Big Franks School. Are they in the same district? We need to encourage those students or the students at Jackio's school to put those feelings into action and enfold that family in community support. Since the boy was living at a facilty that also housed the mentally ill, I am assuming that the family has limited financial resources. Are they able to afford the hospital bills? Could some the high school clubs (Stuco, National Honors Society, Key Clubs, FCA or church youth groups) college clubs, or civic groups (Optimist, Kiwanas, Lyons, or Church Groups) organize a fund at a local bank or other financial institution, help the family with meals/child care if needed as they spend time at the hospital, or organize a welcome home party for the young man when he gets out of the hospital. (This would be a fun activity for high school students or college students.)
I don't have very many creative ideas of how to help someone in this situation. Perhaps, Steve and Nancy might have some appropriate ideas of what the family may need. Wouldn't it be great if the focus of this thread would be how to help the family rather that the perpetrators. Unfortunately, the boy will probably have scars from this experience. At this point the family probably has questions about humanity and the young man will have issues of who to trust. Wouldn't it be great if they could say although there are bad people in the world, but the number of good people far out number they based on their experience at a tragic time.
Wouldn't this be a neat way to teach our students that one person can make a difference. Those lessons are every bit as important, perhaps more important than how to diagram a sentence.
The measure of a society is how they choose to take care of those who can not care for themselves.
Comment