On Sunday I asked the Jr. high kids at Westwinds to go through a nine station experience geared toward deepening their commitment God and to maintaining God centered relationships. Students progressed through the stations in groups of four and I wandered through the room, helping kids stay focused and encouraging them to take the whole thing seriously. By the end of the night I had mixed feelings about how things went. Some of the kids horded the shoestring licorice at the friendships station and that left others without that experience. Others seemed unable to engage in the whole process. And a few looked as though they really got it.
The first station required students to write on a mirror things about themselves that others don't know. As I carried the mirrors back to the office later that night, I glanced and saw "I like llamas." I was frustrated and proceeded to vent to ben about how we take all this time to set these things up for kids and they just can't engage. So he asked me, "What did they write?". I turned toward the mirrors and started reading expecting lot's more llama comments. Here's what the kids had written in response to the question, "What is something people don't know about you?"...
- I have a lot of crazy things going on in my life I don’t tell people about them I try to act like nothing is wrong because I don’t like people feeling sorry/looking down on me.
- I am tall and I love cherries.
- I cut my wrists/arm.
- My sense of humor.
- My brain.
- I have huge enormous super fat cats.
- State is #1
- I hate my brother; no seriously, I really hate him.
- I love someone special.
- Most people don’t see my secret toilet.
- Most people don’t know I love someone.
- Most people don’t know that I like to sing.
- I praise God by playing sports.
- I keep a book of my deepest prayers.
- My legs.
- My math skills (8=D)
- Michigan rocks!
- I am… I am mentally strong.
- Go Spartans!
- Things aren’t too great lately.
- Life sucks. I blame God.
- I have nothing positive to say about myself.
- I like pie.
- I miss my brother and I miss how life used to be.
- God is good.
- I like cheese.
- I get scared and hurt a lot but I’m fearless.
- The tattoo on my back
- Some of my friend relationships and my relationship with my sister really upset me.
- No one understands me.
- Spartans rule
- I’m bald.
- I’m sad and depressed.
- I slit my wrists.
After reading the mirrors my perspective changed, and I was reminded of why I do what I do . These were the thoughts of the squirrelly kids who couldn't focus. Sure some of them are silly, but they're 6-8th graders, what did I expect? They are going 100 mph, and carrying all of this stuff around with them. It's an incredibly awkward time in life and they are trying to figure it all out in a culture that is feeding them all the wrong info.
I intersect with this group of kids for about 2 hours every week. I had to ask myself... How am I helping them? and... how can I do more?
3 comments:
you help them by continuing to work towards creating environments where they can unpack some of this junk they are carrying around. That is what you're doing right now...pretty well I might add.
i read those before I left as I was cleaning up. It was all I could do to keep from crying.
I don't know if you heard, but Mallory Wooden's dad had a heart attack a few days ago. So if you could keep the family in your prayers, I would appreciate it.
hey Mr.Neill this class discusion was pretty deep, i learned from it whether or not anyone else did.
-Chris
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