Partnership Educators,
I am happy to share with you a "Stories of Us" episode from a guest author, Andy Mills (4th - 8th Teacher at Igo Ono School). Thank you Andy for this powerful submission. Enjoy everyone and have a great weekend. Rob
Young Emmitt was busily playing in the park. It was a great day playing with friends in the warm air and the gentle blowing breeze. He was with his two favorite people - his mother and his aunt. Suddenly, the park was gone and Emmitt realized he was alone with his abuser enduring another beating from which he could not escape. No matter how hard he wanted the park to be real it was only a mirage, a temporary mental escape from his true reality.
This young boy experienced trauma and abuse early on in his life. He was abused by several adults and even his father. The very people he should have been able to trust to keep him safe from harm were the ones harming him. “What is the point of living?” was now on his mind. Seeing the joy his mother experienced at church gave him hope. His new faith would see him through the darkness that his life had become.
Emmitt has said, “I remember being a kid and praying in the hell of my house to have somebody love me and somebody that I could love.” As I think about this story I cannot help but think of those young boys and girls that walk into our classrooms every day. Many come from such brokenness, such darkness. Many do not have a mother that can provide them with a smile. Many do not have any form of faith, they can claim as their own, to provide them with hope. What our kids do have is us! They have a staff that is willing to stand in the gap and provide hope and light to them in a dark, desperate, and often hopeless world.
Emmit later changed his name to Tyler and we know him today as the very successful and talented Tyler Perry. Tyler was quoted as saying, “You close the door on me and tell me I can’t, I’m gonna find a way to get in.” Tyler Perry never quit when he certainly could have. May we help our students find a way to never quit, but rather find a way to “get in.”
Thank you for making sure our students are safe, welcomed, and loved each day they enter our classrooms, gymnasiums, cafeterias, and playgrounds. You are a difference-maker!
Andy Mills, Teacher Igo Ono School