The Trek to Tiny

It’s a beautiful world, one filled with wonder and inspiration.  And then there is the darkness, because there can never be light without the dark.

My small-town community is a profound juxtaposition of the dark and the light.  Every time I leave the house beauty surrounds me. Snow kissed mountains, deep fresh water lakes and rivers. Eagles and moose that surprise me on my daily walks, and people who love and do whatever it takes. Then the sun sets and darkness presides. Darkness has immense “make you wonder” beauty, but there is also darkness that creeps into the daily rythmn of the light.

Two recent suicides have left me digging deep with questions that have no answers.  I truly love my job. It’s not the easiest,  or best paying job I’ve ever resigned the hours of my life to.  If you think parenting is hard, commit your days to education. Commit to showing up and being the adult responsible for satisfying parents and the state that their kids are acquiring all the skills required for educational success. But also bear the weight of the emotional and behavioral turmoil of being human as a teenager. Whew.

The suicide of the father of my son’s friend, and then, a principal of a regional high school really shook the foundation on which I walk.  I don’t take lightly the influence I have on kids I spend approximately 170 days a year with. Almost 1/2 of a student’s life is spent with teachers and administration, meaning the influence is divided between work and home

To have a principal, a leader,  who has stood before their student body to encourage, discipline and mentor, and then take their own life is beyond devestating.  Not just one family is destroyed, but hundreds of families will remember their high school years defined by this one event.

The potential for violence in our schools, upon others or self inflicted, is no joke. Something has shifted in our culture and everyone has their favorite scapegoat. Video games, the NRA, social media, greed, smart phones, mental illness, conservatives, liberals,  illegal aliens, poverty, politics … the list is endless.  I don’t have an answer

This I know to be true, I love my kids, and I love your kids too.

So  stay connected, ask the questions, listen and be kind when you hear the answer.

Shine some light…

Hillary D.