Drama in the Halls

I am all alone in a sea of chaotic rebellion. These days going to school seems more like a chore and the thought makes me sick to my stomach. The predictability of fights, perverse comments, and the news of another young girls’ pregnancy await my arrival at the door.

I watch from afar everyday as they walk the halls in search of something to give them meaning. Timid kids who quietly sit in class hoping someone will take the time to talk and actually listen to them for a change. I see the hidden scars on their arms from the lonely nights they’ve felt broken down and discouraged. Vicious Bullies who rummage the halls for weaker smaller versions of themselves. They ransack their fellow peers lives because of the anger and depression they bottle up inside. Innocent young girls who look for love in all the wrong places wind up pregnant and burdened down with worry. Along with the boys who are too young to have a job, but have to find a way to provide for their new baby. I disdainfully watch as disappointment replaces the happy smiles on their faces. The teachers who discreetly look at all of them with disgust filled eyes while my fellow students grades plummet at a steady decrease, but they never think to ask any of them if everything is okay. Kids who smile at everyone, laugh and make jokes , but secretly pray one of their friends will stop and say that they’d be lost if anything ever happed to them. I see sorrow wash over them as they watch their “friends” walk away laughing and talking as if they aren’t even there at all.

Stepping out into their darkness I feel eyes silently making pleas with me, but all I can muster up is a smile. I should be able to kneel with them in prayer and hide them from these torments, but I don’t know how. As the rumors fly and I feel nightmarish words hit my armor with a thud I look around at my wounded peers. They feel so different from each other, yet they’re all the same. They would rather suffer alone than unite and stand strong against this anguish. I wish they knew about your love and grace. Lord, if they felt your warmth surround them as I feel … everything would turn out alright. I know that’s an impossible thought to them. A thought that should never enter their minds, but just as the wind flows through the air on a hot summer day you are here. My God, let your refreshing air gush through this school, and grant me the courage to shield them from the drama in these halls.