“Nobody said it was going to be easy.” ‘ever heard that before? How ’bout this: “if it were easy, anybody could do it!” Now I don’t claim to be special, only supernatural! You might be guessing that we had a demanding week. We did. It started with prank phone calls from a weekend party the kids were having at a home where there was no responsible parental supervision, which is very common. Poor parenting skills, or non-existent parents, due to their schedules, their own addictions or distractions, accounts for a lot of the playtime hazards and poor judgment many of our kids exhibit. If one does not understand the “design” of life and has never been taught how it is intended to be lived, then disaster, as a result of blind behavior, is sure to result. This is truly logical; surely you agree. To make the long story short for your sake, some of my students received phone calls with threats of bodily harm, one of my female staff members received a sexual harassment call (she is attractive and young looking), and I received a phone call from a caller at the party that imitated the voice of another student in my charge who has a very damaged voice due to birth difficulties. “Mr. Riley, I won’t be in school Monday; my mom just died.” I asked if he was alone at his home, and he replied “yes.” I said “I’ll be right there.” It was about eleven o’clock PM. Good judgment would have stopped this prank right then but under the influence of the partying friends, and who knows what else, caution and good judgment were chucked to the wind! The ensuing chase involved the local city police and the county police because, contrary to some of my student’s opinions, the police used good judgment to protect me from what I might have walked into in the home. We left William’s home perplexed. I learned later that there were several prank calls made that night. Know this—Crossing staff will answer the call any time and are available to our students in times of need or crisis. We do this because this is more than a job; it is our mission, something we truly believe in. Then came Monday. Though I took the time to discuss the weekend’s misbehaving, the pranksters never apologized, let alone confess. Understand, as we do, the mountain of infinitely varied offenses they have committed in their lives is the very reason some of them are in the alternative school to start with. People live the way they live because that is the way they live. If they are not trained as a child in a system of morality and responsibility, they live in a very basic primitive survival system that requires only that their individual senses be satisfied. Confession and apology are ideas that challenge that primitive sensory satisfaction system. My former pastor, Jerry Rittenhouse, once said in a Sunday morning sermon, “Perhaps you would be better off without your opinion.” Really, think about it. It is a difficult task trying to explain a better way of life to a person who has invested his or her whole life in the way they have chosen. Challenging their primitive value system, considering how twisted it may be, is not a task for wimps. Until they understand, which they work so hard against, they resist with all their might! They often fight their hardest when they are at the very brink of actually realizing and then accepting the truth! Don’t give up now! Perhaps we are about to see the light! Did I say Monday! The rest of the week presented an immeasurable myriad of difficulties and challenges, papers to grade, meetings to attend and our own personal families to manage, enough to keep one spinning. The trick; spin in time with the kids we love so much, teach them how to have valuable and righteous relationships, show them how to manage the empowerment life hands them on a silver platter, love them unconditionally, demonstrate integrity in all that we do, and in all things present the absolute truth. Pray always. Some will understand and their lives will show the difference! What more could you ask? “Nobody said it was going to be easy.”Monday… — Don Riley]]>