Singing the Sky

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What do you do when a kid has been completely traumatized, yet seems to have moved past it in a dysfunctional way? I was talking to one of my kiddos for a while Friday, and learned that he had witnessed two of his uncles being butchered by some drunk guys with machetes when he lived in El Salvador. This happened when he was seven years old, and he’s now been in the US for several years. He’s in a gang, and informs me that he is going to drop out. This is reasonable, since he is almost 17 and is still in the ninth grade. I asked him if he was going to take the GED, because I covertly help some of my kiddos prepare for it, and he said no, that he was going in the family business. The family business is drugs. He really can’t see any other future, and that just sucks. I mean, did this kid ever have a chance?? He is so darn smart. He could just be so much. I wish there was something I could do, but frankly, I have no freakin’ idea.

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