February 15th:
The Day Everything Changes
It's the day after Valentine's Day.
Giddiness and depression hang equally in the air as the students of Credo sit at the table, exchanging gossip, getting in a last text or post before it's time to start discussing this week's topic: the moral enigma faced by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
But there’s one problem: Timothy, who hasn’t missed a class the whole year, isn’t there.
Slowly, hesitantly, class settles in but is interrupted by the school’s assistant principal coming in and whispering something to Mr. Wichterman and Mrs. Stephens.
They both look at each other, then around the table at the anxious faces of their students.
Closing her eyes, a single tear rolls down Mrs. Stephens cheek.
Harmoni breaks the silence. “What happened to Timothy?”
Mr. Wichterman takes a deep breath and folds his hands in front of him.
“Timothy is gone. He was involved in a shooting last night. He left us this morning.”
Screams. Heads and hands shaking. Doors slamming as some students leave the room in disbelief.
Mrs. Stephens looks around at the remaining students.
“I’m so sorry.”
The scene fades to black.
Nothing is the same, Everything is the same
As the minutes, hours, and days pass, the facts start to surface on social media.
Timothy was off campus, hanging out in what Cabot Lodge students referred to as “Project Slumway” with a boy he’d recently met. They were at the playground, playfully and flirtatiously screaming and running after each other, having fun. At the same time, a robbery a few blocks away had police looking for armed suspects, and, not hearing any of the police shouting at him to freeze, Timothy reached into his pocket for his inhaler and…
Students are sent home for the day. But in the week before the next class, their posts reflect the feelings they're dealing with.
And when everyone returns to class the next Friday, the setting is familiar, but everything is different.
They gather around the same table they had cried around a week ago.
There is silence. There are hugs. There are tears.
And once again, the words of Mr. Harrison bring them back.
"It's time to take stock, folks.
We've had something taken away from us.
A friend.
A life.
But also our senses of safety and innocence.
But we also have to acknowledge what we've been given.
A light.
A light that now shines on dark things we never wanted to see, both in others and in ourselves.
Try as you may to extinguish this light, but it'll be there for the rest of your life. And for that I am truly sorry.
But there's a good side to this. The light is also power. By using it to expose that which was trying to hide, you can see the bad and confront it. You can limit it's power. And ultimately, if you work hard enough, you can defeat it.
What you do with this light is up to you. I'm not God. I can't tell you your purpose.
But for the rest of this year, Fridays from 2 pm til 2:35 pm, I'll be using my light to see into who we were, who we are, and who we can become.
Who's with me?"