Strength and caring, when everyone is hurting

I originally wrote this on March 10th.  

I really wish I had time to write about the greatness I see in my students every single day.  Our school is somewhat like an emergency room or trauma center, everyday.  The teachers, and all staff, triage the situations; life and death, follow me; potential life and death issues, this way; suicidal thoughts and self harm, over here please.... But even when these young people are dealing with huge issues of their own, they prove over and over again how amazing, caring, and protective they are of one another.

There was a shooting yesterday afternoon in Coon Rapids, the city just to our west. StarTribuneArticle  A high school student, age 15 shot his 14 year old girl friend and then killed himself.  The girlfriend is in the hospital and is going to live.  Both of these young people have many connections with our students, some are relatives, many are friends, others are acquaintances, etc.  We had an all-school meeting this morning to let students know that counselors were available at any time to talk or listen, or just be there for whatever they needed.  At the meeting we also asked that students be sensitive to how their peers might be feeling today.  We gave a very short explanation of how people handle grief differently, and that we can't "expect" anyone to handle it a specific way, and that grieving is not a one day process, so even if you are fine today, or someone else looks fine today, they might be sad or angry or be experiencing any range of emotions tomorrow, the next day, next week, or next month. The room was completely silent during this short all-school meeting. We really did not know how the day would go.  But all day today, we have had students supporting one another, helping their peers reach out to counseling staff, showing compassion and empathy, and overall, supporting the community as a whole. 

There are stories like this everyday.  Something happens everyday. Through all of their hardships, they are so incredibly wise.  If I could, I would share this with the world