The Little Things We Notice

What most people don't realize goes on inside the walls of a school.

A student slumps down along a wall at recess. She seems different. She is not playing, not laughing, not smiling. The principal notices and imagines what this 13 year old is dealing with. Boyfriend, peer pressure, parents that don't get it. Middle school is challenging. That is for sure.

The principal sees her the next day in Spanish class. She is preoccupied with destroying a piece of paper. Everyone else notices how preoccupied she is. The teacher gives her a cue to stop. The girl turns her attention to twisting her hair. She is lost in her own world. The principal worries that this girl might be lost in this world.

The parent of the girl calls two days later. The girl had a plan, she told her mom, to work out a problem with a friend. The mom has been worried about the friendship dynamic. The girl told the mom not to worry, she had it taken care of. 

Something didn't settle right with the mom, and she went to go talk to her daughter.....and found her. Her plan was to end her life. By the grace of God, the mother found just in time. 

The principal can't find her way out of the darkness now. She almost lost one of her own. She felt that something wasn't right. None of the other school type of things seem to matter compared to life, to living. She has failed at what is most important, protecting her own.

What does she tell herself, her staff? Do you ask every child that seems not like herself if she has a plan to end her life?