Sounds rather dramatic, I suppose, but it seems to suit what I've been struggling with all day. It's a sad fact that there are young people in this great nation of ours who are so greviously harassed by their classmates that they'd give up their education for the sake of avoiding said harassment. Today, I encountered such a child that was also troubled by the regular abuse from his parents for his poor performance in school.
The boy feels that everywhere he turns, he is an object of scorn and criticisim. He feels that his plans for the future are impractical, thus expecting himself to be in jail is a more reasonable thing. It doesn't help that he has legitimate problems academically speaking. Dyslexia is a hellish thing and when it reduces a 17 yr old's reading ability down to that of a 2nd or 3rd grade student's, you can pretty well bet that it's going to be rough, to say the least, for the child in question. Add to this an environment of hostility and harassment, which I have witnessed in effect around this boy and others in the school, and any hopes of academic success for such a child will drop considerably.
Even more so when your parent's idea of encouraging you to do better is a cocktail of bribery (do it and you get to watch pay-per-view porn) and beatings. And this was what I encountered today. Now, aside from the boy's run ins with the law for petty theft and repeated incidents of minor vandalism, he's a good kid. He engages in these acts for attention and to stand at the head of his current group of friends. It's a sad thing when a boy must committ crimes to be a leader in his group of friends. It's an even more unfortunate thing when a boy feels that his life is damned before it even truly begins.
It breaks my heart to see this young man on the road to a life of hardship and suffering. I know a young man that was once at this same point. He made bad decisions and acted with the raw courage and bravado that this young man is right now. That landed him in prision. He's almost half way through his time. He's lost so many opportunities. He's already recieving criticisim for his past actions and current situation from people around. His parents have the misfortune of listening to whispered comments if this wayward son ever comes up in discussion. Now, there is another young man of the same headstrong dispositon.
This young man, who has a heart of gold when you get past the bravado, comes from a home life that is worse then the prisioner had. He is making several of the same mistakes. Gods willing, this 17 yr old will wake up and change his ways. I can't help him, though I desperately want to. It makes me feel so sad, angry, and ashamed to be unable to do anything for this young man who is throwing his future away.
He's worth a hell of alot more then these people that are making him feel like a peice of human garbage.
How the hell do you show some one that?
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