Fragile

I was rather flattened yesterday after when I received a podcast from a friend, a tragic story of 6 black young males who attended our high school of last resort, kids who have been born into troubled lives and whose lives are the same - homeless, living on the hard side of things in every sense of the word.  The six boys are all dead, all since December, that is six in four months, one was murdered and the other five are all suicides.  The principal is the daughter of my friend - she tells the stories of each boy and she emphasized that each was still a kid, no matter how they acted or looked, that they had dreams and hopes - but they gave up.  

There is so much of this in every part of our world, all kinds of sad stories.  I needed to put this one out in the larger world, and urge myself and all of us to look at these kids when we pass them, to recognize that they are part of our tribe.  This is the one thing that the principal said she has found makes a tiny difference, being recognized.  And so many middle and upper class people look away - and of course there are other populations that need the same attention.

I hope I don't sound preachy.  If I need to preach to anyone, it would be to me myself and I. So fragile, OMG, life is fragile.