I talked with a student today who used to be very close with Gary. She told me that last year, when they were in middle school, he would always be nice and easy to talk to. He would invite her to play basketball during gym class and they were pretty good friends. One day, right before summer break began, she saw his mom chew him out at the park. She didn't see him during the summer and, when he returned, he was a completely different person. He would yell and swear at her, he would be disrespectful and rude to teachers, and he had an extremely poor attittude. She tried to rekindle the friendship at the start of the year, but he wasn't having it and she gave up.
She also said that Gary deserved what he got. He acted the fool, so now he's being made a fool. I don't know how I feel anymore. Obviously his home life is nothing to speak of. He's been kicked out of his house. He has trust issues with his mother and women in general. He'd gotten into some bad stuff to cope or try and fit in or for some other reason. But he came to school everyday. He hopped the bus and arrived at school and got decent grades. He is a knowledgeable boy. So why just throw him back? What will he accomplish now? Madison could have been his only respite from gang initiation or a life of street crime. But I feel like we gave up. Sure, 9 times out of 10, or even 99 times out of 100, we would have failed with him. But he still had that chance. He was a good boy once upon a time. He is smart and has some issues, but we failed. I failed. Big time. It sucks. I didn't realize I would feel this way.
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