I am in the middle of complying with a meme and part of it was to list one of my own posts about something I love. Well, naturally, I thought of my three kids. I linked to posts about my two daughters and then found that I haven’t written too much about my son, or at least not a full post. In an effort to have something about him to link people to in my meme post, I’m writing this.
My son is 26. I’m very proud of him. He’s thoughtful, honest, helpful, a wonderful big brother to his sisters, and a loving son to me. He has always been this way. I could write about him as a baby to illustrate my point but instead I chose to write about an incident that happened when he was about 13, a time when kids are trying to be cool and fit in with their friends.
When Tony started seventh grade at a new school, he had a set of friends that followed from sixth grade but he was also introduced to kids from other feeder schools. He tried to make new friends, as he always does. He came home from school the first few days and told me about his teachers and some of the kids at the new school and about the routines and rules at the middle school. I enjoyed listening to him, especially because this was a school that many refused to send their kids to. About half of the kids he finished sixth grade with ended up in a private school instead of at the public school. I had hesitated but realizing that I’d rather put him into the public school that to send him to a private “uppity” school, I enrolled him at the public school.
On the first Friday of the school year, I picked Tony up and he had a notice from the principal.
Tony~”I have something from the principal that you’re not going to like.”
Me~”What is it? Why am I not going to like it?”
Tony~”Well, you should read it. Something happened in P.E. today but everyone is okay.”
Me~”Were you involved?”
Tony~”Yes, but not how you’d think. Nothing bad.”
We drove home and I read the notice, which was sent to all parents, from the Principal. Apparently, in my son’s P.E. class, right after lunch, someone had a loaded gun in a backpack and when the backpack dropped, the gun went off. No one was hurt in any way. Kids were questioned and the boy with the gun was suspended awaiting expulsion and the police were called. It was handled.
I asked Tony how he was involved and he said that when the Principal came into the gym and asked if there were any witnesses or anyone that had information, Tony raised his hand. He was questioned in the Principal’s office and he told them what he had seen and who’s backpack had dropped and where the gun shot had come from. He also told them what happened immediately afterwards and who had said what. This helped them to get a full picture. Tony didn’t know any of the kids involved. They had come from another school. He had been very honest and had volunteered in front of everyone in the gym, without regard to his place at the school or that he would be fingered as a “fink” because of this. He had just known that it was the right thing to do and he had done it. At home, with me, he did say he was a little worried that this would mark him at the school and people wouldn’t want to be his friend, however, Tony came to the conclusion, on his own, that his friends already knew him and anyone that would not want to be his friend because of his cooperation with the administration probably wasn’t anyone he would want to be friends with.
The Principal called me as Tony and I were discussing what had happened. He wanted to congratulate me on having such a fine son. He said I should be proud of him.
I didn’t need anyone to tell me to be proud of him. I was. I still am.
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights 