Another thing obvious, now felt for real

At one school today, a girl handed me a typed packet
Her writing, she asked me to read.
Frank, clear references to sexual abuse
more than once, more than one person
and also other hardships
but clear forgiveness.
Positivity
I love my family, she said.
She said she wrote it with her counselor.
I am not worried that she is not receiving support.

I am honored that she offered it to me to read.
At the other school we talk so much about connecting to kids, having a connection
no definition. I know and I do not know exactly what they mean.
I wrote her back a letter to say she writes beautifully and thank you.
Language as simple as 10 and as honest as 22.
She smiled.
Who am I to? But who is anyone to?
I wonder why she offered it, if it was so deliberate, if she likes me or thinks of me as a person, not just a robot in the front of the line.


They did their homework quietly, and I glazed over
wanted to cry with rage
A person, not an abstract person
did that
to
A Child, not an abstract child
That beautiful girl, big like I was, poised beyond her years
but full of attitude, seeking fairness, acting exactly her age.
How Dare....
How, can I discipline this girl when she is rude to me?
To make school a place where rudeness is denied, maybe, is to make school unreal.
And real language, real emotion, lies outside the wide hallways and back with that, and whoever those Hims are.
Compassion, sympathy,
Can I treat her like normal, like average, thriving, happy? and make school a real world where she is really okay?