Big bad things happen and the first thing I think is, thank god I don't work with kids anymore. Mid-April used to be uniquely difficult for me as that's when the sixth grade teacher taught a unit on the war and the Holocaust and Hitler. They'd ask the good questions and she wouldn't answer them and neither would any other responsible adult. Just another topic to bring up and shut down immediately. They'd simmer with agitation and curiosity and horror all day and come see me at three o'clock and ask me all their good questions and I would do my damnedest to answer. I never felt like I did a very good job but I always told the truth and I tried not to scare them.
I would like to see a graph of my daily usage of "I don't know, kiddo" because that mid-April spike would have been something else.
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I've been thinking about the invisible brotherhoood of people who have lowered a flag to half-mast. Outside the military, boy scouts, the kid in charge of the flag at the middle school, and people at their own homes, I guess it's mostly grunts and janitors. Do you remember forever exactly why you lowered the flag each time? I bet you do.
