I Do Lerv My Job

This week is National Homelessness and Hunger week. There was a story in our local newspaper about homeless teens. It was a nice article that briefly touched on the issues facing those kids.

Kids who have been "kicked out" of the house by their parents are technically called "unaccompanied minors" rather than truly homeless.

We have a few of those. Kids whose parents tell them to get out, or whose parents move to another town to be with a boyfriend/girlfriend and leave the child behind.

Well, we've been talking about this in one of my classes; I shared the article from the local paper and had the kids react and respond. Every student in my class either knows someone in that situation or is him/herself in that situation. It was a really awesome discussion.

One of my kids is currently in foster care (with a great family) because the parents were not able to take care of the kids...the meth lab in the basement sorta got in the way.

Another student has been bouncing around with siblings and mom between grandparents/aunts and friends.

It's an issue that hits very, very close to home for them.

But their responses to the issue were pretty cool. They all wondered what THEY could do to help people in these situations. They expressed frustration because they couldn't do more to help their peers.

These are students who are either IN this situation or very close to it themselves. Yet, their initial response was to wonder how they could help others...not how they could get help themselves.

These are students who have made really bad choices but they still have the capacity to see that others are worse off; others who need their help.

I love the days when I learn from them. They've got a lot more to teach me than I could teach them.