Reflections

She'd convinced herself that I was the enemy. Seemed so logical to her that the anger she was feeling was because of my actions and not her inaction. I didn’t predict the path that pain would take her during the months ahead. I'd heard over and over, that hurt people hurt people but somehow my heart didn't make that connection with my brain soon enough. I regret not realizing that. I gathered the whispers of what was being said and struggled with understanding where it all went wrong. Of course, today, I can see explicitly how the message got tangled. Who weaved it. I couldn’t see it then but I see it now.  I can see where I made my own mistakes as well. That’s the unforgiving burn of hindsight. The conflict likely began in a conversation about “those kids”. The ones that can turn a building inside out. For most of my career, I’ve tried to advocate for equity when it comes to special needs students. Yet, experience has taught me that the need extend...