I am recently noticing in myself a tendency towards frustration with students and some of the kids that I work with. When I am working one-on-one with GED students, or one-on-five with kids, it is easy to get annoyed with hyperactivity, lack of knowledge, lateness, and inconsistency in showing up. It is easy to forget about the systems and institutions that are behind so many of the behaviors and values of the inner city.
And then I look at my GED student, who is choosing to pursue education in spite of hardship like lack of resources, lack of transportation, and difficulties with academics. I think about how by the time I was her age (18), I had already completed 13 years of private school, including a college prep high school.
I grew up with parents and family members who supported me and paid for SAT classes and provided for all my needs. I lived in a neighborhood where I could walk around at night without fear of violence, and news of shootings were rare to non-existant.
I think of one of the other kids who stopped by the house today. He is a 12 year old who acts too tough around the other guys, but is innocent, curious, even sweet when it's just him. He listed his recent family troubles- cousin who was hiding out got caught and sent to jail, another cousin recently shot and killed, another cousin killed in a car crash from driving drunk.
(A couple minutes later, he looked at me earnestly, and asked, "So...what do you think about werewolves?" introducing it as an intellectual subject for debate.)
And then I think about my 13 year old brother, just a year older, who has never had to face any of these things that my young Harrisburg friend lists off so nonchalantly. He spends the summer at the lake, plays sports with his friends, goes to the beach with my family.
There is something wrong with this picture.
But how do we get to the bottom of this? How do we confront the disparities that are so deeply rooted in our society and in our world?
My prayer is that I will continue to engage these questions in my life, and that I would live my life seeking answers to these questions.
(P.S. I just finished the book Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. Great book, and an amazing example of someone, Dr. Paul Farmer, who lives radically in tension with the above questions!)
