From Project Reverb:
What uphill battle did you keep fighting and fighting in 2013? Are you going to keep fighting or let it go? Why?
My biggest continuing battle is for the appropriate education for my children.
This is a battle I will never give up. I might change my strategies, but I will never stop.
That’s right, even after my children are out of the public school system, I’ve pledged to keep my finger on the pulse of whatever local educational system I am in.
It started back when my children were middle school and elementary ages. We were watching a football game of our local high school and were sitting on a hillside to watch. I loved it there: we could spread out a blanket and enjoy the game and my toddler could move around without being on bleachers which always frightened me.
In a matter of moments, a physical altercation broke out between three young women close to me. Not being one to be passive, I stepped in and broke up the fight as security plunged into the situation as well. There was one little girl whose shirt I had in my hand. She turned as if to try to get away and I said to her, “You must face this.”
Her sweet face, which hardly looked like a fighter’s face, turned to me and said, “I need to get my shoe.” I kept my hand on her shirt and the security guard said to her, “Hey, get over here!” and I responded, firmly, “She needs to get her shoe.”
When the girl turned I looked into her brown eyes and said, “Everything will turn out fine. Just face what happened and do what needs to be done. You will turn out ok.”
She nodded back at me, eyes down, and the next exchange of words changed my life forever.
The security officer asked me, “Are you her mother?”
I looked into his face and said, “No, I am not her mother.” And as soon as the words spilled from my mouth I regretted it. I was her mother. Not her biological mother, but I have a unique connection with all children whose “real” mother isn’t present. As a part of the human community, I believe we are all mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins to one another.
I remember watching the girl walk away with the security guards and the other girls and I prayed she remembered my calm, encouraging words.
I never saw her again, but that brief interaction changed my life.
When my daughter experienced some serious educational barriers at the same school some ten or so years later, for the first time ever I electively chose to move my child from one high school to another. This was not an easy decision.
This morning, before I read today’s prompt, I gazed out the window at the barren trees, leafless and waiting for winter to do her thing so that eventually Spring would appear. The children from that high school drifted into my mind. I miss those kids. They are each and all great kids. I feel sadness knowing what many of them face, including lack of compassion in some circumstances like we faced.
Most of the times these problems are not due to the teachers who are doing the absolute best they can.
This is why it is important to stay connected with the school boards and the administration so that your children’s best interests may be served, whether they are a five-minute-child-of-yours or the ones you actually bore.
“Are you her/his mother?”
Yes. I will never stop battling for the best education for all children.
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Check the ProjectReverb folks out on Twitter @Project_reverb and with the hashtag #reverb13
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Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
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