I was working at a school this afternoon in the pass room which pretty much means I get to read and tell the kids to stop talking. I only had one student most of the day so I got to do a lot more reading than telling kids to be quiet. Most of my reading was in a book about Burundi and the violence and reconciliation there. At the same time, I have lunch detention duty and have separate talks with two students about the long-standing conflict they’ve had for a few years. “Stop staring at me!!!” was angrily thrown several times. It’s stupid, stupid stuff- suspicions, labels, stereotypes, anger, the same thing I was reading about that led to widespread massacre. How that all starts was giving glaring looks at each other before my eyes. How do you help teach 12 year olds to look past their prejudice and at the heart of a person? How do you teach them to put down their “weapons” and reach out? How do you make them listen to what is true? We have enough killing in the world.
365-09 #309