In Chicago, with gang lines existing quite literally from block to block, things can suddenly switch from safe to unsafe just by crossing one street. This isn't a new phenomenon. The media abounds with stories concerning our nation's third largest school district: the money problems, the attempts at special programs to kickstart students, the gang rivalries from school to school which plague classrooms, hallways and sports programs. National Public Radio (NPR) has exceptional coverage which affords us outsiders a more intimate glimpse into this mind-boggling issue. In particular, "This American Life," a public radio program with themed weekly shows covering a vast spectrum of topics (which coincidentally broadcasts out of WBEZ in Chicago), aired an outstanding 2-part series called "Harper High School." You can download the podcasts or listen online at http://www.thisamericanlife.org, #'s 487 and 488, February 15th and 22nd of this year.
These kids . . . they're still kids . . . average ages around 10, 11, 12, but some older, some younger . . . these displaced students trying to make it safely to school today . . . and safely back home . . . these kids aren't thinking about lunch, quizzes and recess. Their mothers aren't smiling when they drop them off at the school entrances. Their teachers are forced to consider if risking their own lives day in and day out is worth the salary and effort. And to make matters worse -- is that possible? -- there are those families who have thrown in the towel and simply moved to another state. Thus abandoning neighborhoods, one home at a time, to make way for more boarded up buildings and an infiltration of apathetic, misguided and violent young thugs. As crazy as it sounds, if things continue to progress at the present rate, I can envision a future in which Chicago officials surrender an entire chunk of their city to the encroaching darkness and simply relocate families and shut down ALL remaining schools in the area.
It's difficult to swallow such a horse-pill as this. That there exists a place in our America where a kindergartner needs a security detail for his or her very first day of school. And every day after that. Where I live, I can walk blocks upon blocks, morning, noon or night, with very little risk to myself. And my children have run amok for almost ten years within our local neighborhoods, their trouble stemming more from that which they generated than anything coming from an external source. They're more likely to incur a bite from a random stray dog -- which has never happened -- than to suffer a gunshot wound. I dropped off my high school senior at school today, not because he was in danger but because he lost his driving privileges for awhile, and we exchanged genuine smiles. When I pick him up in the afternoon, I watch kids laden with backpacks, bent over smart phones, laughing one with the other, walk home. Unescorted. Without a pervading sense of impending doom when they switch from one sidewalk to another. It's a pleasure to witness these school kids. (Though I'm OH! SO! glad that only one, 1, UNO, of the numerous teens lives under my roof!)
We've faced many a challenge but they've not been exacerbated by such as I've just set before your reading eyes. We are blessed. I don't take that for granted. In an unsafe world of dangers seen and unseen, my children, my neighbor's children, are safe.
That's how it should be. For all children.
It isn't. We should be indignant.
Kids grow up fast enough as it is . . .
