I haven't quite known what to make of this one since it hit me this week; I subbed in a second-grade class in Dearborn this week, and I know I've mentioned about Dearborn having the largest Arabic population outside the Middle East. I had one girl in the class, her name isn't really important, what is important is that she was Arabic. And, well, for most of the day she was a handful, talking out of turn, forever out of her seat....pretty much typical second-grade stuff, only worse. Finally, I said enough is enough, and sent her down to the office. The principal called me back to ask me what she had been doing, and I explained the situation to him, to which he said, "well, it's not the first time it's happened with her, in fact it happens pretty frequently, I'm going to give her a time-out (in the office,) and send her back up, because we can't get ahold of her parents." Okay, fine, works for me, the rest of the class was in the library right about then anyway. When the girl came back up, I, in my most teacherly fashion, mentioned that the principal had told me that this wasn't the first time something had happened, and that her parents probably didn't like it very much to be getting bad reports about her. Her response? "Well, my mom doesn't like it very much, and my dad's in Iraq." Which stopped me in my tracks for a minute. Because all I could think right then was, not only could he be a soldier, he could be a soldier on either side of the conflict. Where do you go from there, not really knowing how patriotism would play? The girl also lamented that she and her family had to move to a smaller house recently, a much smaller one, if the girl's perceptions can be trusted at all. She was angry because in her old house, her bedroom was bigger than her younger brother's, and now they had to share space, or some such arrangement. The mother was working very hard, and all the girl wanted was to have her father home. I told her I could understand that, and from my own perspective, and those of others around, really I can. Maybe I reached this kid in some small way, maybe not. I'd like to think I did. It's just different when the only side you can come down on in a situation like this is that of humanity in general. Not us, not "them." Just some poor, emotionally overburdened child who maybe feels a little better being able to get some her troubles, second-grade perspective though they may be, out in the open. Under the circumstances, I can only hope it ends the way this child is hoping it will; any other outcome might just be a bigger risk to us all.