it's funny how one little action, moment, idea can have such an affect. actually it's not often funny, sometimes serious, and even more often, sad.
where i work i can see it all the time. the students make choices and they have to deal with the consequences. now understand not all consequences are bad. for example, you choose to stop at a red light. the consequences are you don't get a ticket from the policeman who is in the crossing lane, or get hit by the truck coming from the left, or hit the little old lady with the fluffy poodle named fifi. these are good. the students i work with have made some poor decisions that have brought consequences of intense therapy. in a way they are lucky. how many people out there need this kind of intervention and don't get it? or what about all the "normal" people out there who just make a "few" mistakes then have to deal with the consequences?
i guess this came up tonight starting at work. being a friday night the students get to watch a movie for fun. we were watching "the breakfast club." now i know it's an old movie and one that many people might scoff at (yes i just used the word "scoff"). but each of the kids in the movie made a poor choice and ended up in detention. you'll just have to go see the movie to see how it turned out. but it really hit home when i got back and opened my computer. one of the news headlines was about an 18 year old girl who made a mistake. she sent a nude photo of herself to her boyfriend with her phone, an action that of late has been termed "sexting."
now to some this may seem like not that big of a deal, but it gets worse. when they broke up, the photo got out . . . to the whole school. people were calling her many bad things. she went on the news as a sillouete and with a voice cover to explain the dangers of something that in the heat of the moment can seem so fun. she was getting harrassed at school and it began to eat at her. two months after the news interview, her mother walked into her room to find that her daughter hung herself. all for pushing "send."
i cannot begin to type all the thoughts in my mind because they are endless. full of sadness and pain. i . . . i just don't know.
here's the link to the news report for any and all who wish to see it. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/?GT1=43001
