The tears remind us...

So I was just walking to the office to check my mailbox and witnessed one of my students crying in the hallway.  This particular student is one of the toughest kids I know, suspected gang ties and all that.  The tears remind me that when you take away all the posturing and tough shot mentality that these kids are just that... kids.  It saddens me when I compare my life as a 15 year old, pampered and protected in my all white community and my brand new car that Mommy and Daddy bought me; to that of these kids' reality which is much darker, surrounded by violence and crime, eyes wide open to the harsh reality of this world at such a young age.