Thursday Feb 27, 1992

In-service day. I'll be brief about this. The morning was devoted to a speaker from the police department who discussed gangs and showed some very frightening videos. These are kids whose whole life is totally consumed and subsumed by being a member of a group that glories in hurting its enemies--enemies for no other reason than that they sport the red or blue. Cold blooded murder is the way they work, and they are so stupid and smug and self--destructive that there is no way to feel they will ever be rehabilitated. Just dead. Some conclusion.

As we watched mothers weep over their dead sons, I could feel the anguish of 16 years of child rearing tossed away like a cigarette butt. Used, gone and forgotten, except for the mourners, whose feelings are irrelevant and pointless. We watched a surveillance camera film of a robbery in which the two clerks were shot after they had handed over the money. I cannot, no matter how hard I try, excuse, condone or even begin to accept such behavior. I used to feel sadness and pity, but these are people for whom killing is the price of doing business. I will never forget the shrieks that came from that film as those two teenagers calmly pulled the trigger and walked away. I can only assume that their time came soon after. There is clearly no escape.

The afternoon was too much and thus not enough. We briefly touched upon a number of topics and got almost nowhere on all of them. There was more talk about discipline and following rules, and how we all must adhere. Not too informative, but at least it wasn't lethal. And I did meet the principal.


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