He's Not Going To Graduate

By all accounts he was a good student.  He was a nice kid.  But he's not going to graduate high school.   He's dead.

If you've read the news about the latest school shooting (although who knows if by the time I finish writing this and publish it if there will be another...or more), you know the name Kendrick Castillo.  He's being called a hero and this 18 year-old (only 4 years older than my own son) died when he was shot tackling the gunman.

I've heard his parents are proud of his actions.  I've also heard his father say that he wished he'd run away.  Can you blame him?  Their only child is dead.  I cannot imagine the pain they are in.  I cannot ALLOW myself to imagine it.  He died a "heroic" death, but he's DEAD.  HE IS DEAD.  He was just days away from graduation and now he's dead.

He did the "right" thing.  His actions certainly saved others’ lives.  But he's DEAD.  DEAD before he even had the chance to graduate and get that piece of paper that celebrates all the hard work he had done for year. 

Of course, in a day or two, the name Kendrick Castillo will disappear from our memory.  This boy (I know, he was legally an adult, but he was still a boy in my mind; he hadn't even graduated yet) will be forgotten by the general public.  And sadly, within a couple of months or weeks or even days (!) his name will be replaced by someone else who will die trying to do the right thing.

Kendrick Castillo is DEAD.

When will WE do the right thing?  When will WE make changes to gun laws?  When will WE address the mental health crisis in our world?  When will WE no longer accept that children are dying in schools?  When will WE demand that this stop?


Maybe it will stop when WE START caring about this.  ALL OF US.  When we ALL say no more and start working TOGETHER.  When we are courageous enough to talk to each other and work with each other and find some answers.  When we drop the hatred and yelling and start TALKING.  When we START to care...about our children, about our neighbors, about people we don't even know.

Kendrick Castillo is dead. I won't forget his name.  Will you?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Not About Starbucks (or is it)?

Image
  About a block and a half from my home in a major intersection.  At the southeast corner (which is nearest to me), is an empty building.  Back in 1995 it was a Bank of NY (I remember this because they didn't shovel/de-ice their parking lot well and my husband fell and broke his ankle one Monday morning.  I recall this clearly because we were not yet married and it was the first day of a new job for me.  I had gotten on the bus to work and he was catching a later one; only he never got there.  Instead he ended up laying on the ground until an employee came to open up the bank.  Then he had them call an ambulance AND my mother who took control of the situation until I arrived home that night blissfully unaware of what had happened that day.)  It eventually became a Chase Bank; the second one in my small little town.  It eventually closed.  I'm not sure when but it's been empty for quite a long time.  (I do know that it was open in 2005 because the night before my son was bor
Read more

As Is

Image
  Today I want to discuss what I think it is a relatively simple concept, but may be difficult for some, even an attorney who might have once, over a decade ago won a  prestigious award  for young lawyers .  That term is "AS IS." As you may know, I volunteer in a thrift shop.  Everything we sell, from all the donations we receive, is "as is."  The items are not brand new.  They are not perfect.  That doesn't mean they aren't any good or worth something. They are sold "as is."  Buyers should go in knowing that. (After all you are shopping in a thrift shop!)  In some cases, particularly when we are offering higher end products, we will actually write on the price tag, "as is." Such is the case of two designer purses that I purchased from there this summer.  (I'm a purse-aholic!  Don't look in my closet.)  They were reasonably priced (especially when you consider the name brand), but each had an "as is" clearly marked o
Read more

Dear Mom & Dad: Coming to a Close

Image
  Dear Mom & Dad, Last week I prematurely said I sold the house.  (Who knew that the buyer's lawyer would be such a...well you fill in the blank.  I get the feeling that he doesn't like that the seller [me], seller's agent and seller's attorney are all women.  I also get the feeling that he likes to play games which will increase his billable hours.  I'm not naming names [yet] because although paperwork has been signed we are not yet at the finish line and based on my awful experiences of late last week, I still have fears that something could go wrong, even though we clearly outlined everything from the very beginning. )  I am closer and have spent the last weekend doing more packing up and moving out. This is the hard part.  I have sold the house furnished (although the buyer doesn't want the furnishings).  I am taking some things (more than I had originally outlined), but I can't take it all.  So I'm doing what I can.  Especially with the &quo
Read more