Autobiographies
This week I have been working with second graders to create their own autobiographies. As I move from child to child helping, encouraging, editing, attempting to spark ideas and draw out their stories, I was touched by one child’s “My Family” page. He wrote “I live in the projects. People die in the projects. Kids see people die in the projects.” This is the same child who had written earlier about his dad poisoning his dog and his mother going to jail. All true. The problems our children face affect me deeply. It is hard to write glib articles when I am trying to reach these children and help them. Imagine how hard it was to help that student write his page on “My Future.” The best I can do is work on equipping these children with the tools they need to survive, giving them my support and a safe place to be, and hopefully - desperately hopefully - inspiring them to be more than they can possibly dream. Every child deserves a future with hope. Every child deserves a better life.
