08/31/2022
Here’s to the ones who haven’t been missed when they return from summer break.
Here’s to the ones who feel invisible.
Here’s to the ones feeling sick as they walk into the building.
Here’s to the ones feeling uncomfortable in their own skin, wishing they could be different than who they are.
Here’s to the ones suffering in silence, wishing just one person saw their pain.
At the start of every new school year – no matter how old my children get – I think about the biggest worry for a lot of kids: Will there be someone? Someone to sit with at lunch… someone nice in my homeroom class… someone who says hello when I walk down the hall.
I’ll never forget the conversation I had with my daughter upon leaving middle school orientation a few years back. As we drove out of the parking lot, I noticed a student walking alone. His head was bowed, his expression grim. He gripped his locker combination slip a little too tightly.
I wondered if he’d struggled to open his locker… if he knew anyone in his homeroom… if anyone had expressed happiness to see him… if his absence would be noticed whenever he was out sick.
“Just be kind,” I said into the air.
Thinking I was talking to her, my daughter earnestly said, “I will, Mom. I have no reason not to anything but kind… but I have every reason TO BE kind.”
Yes. We have every reason to be kind.
But we only need one.
And that reason might be standing right in front of us, just waiting to be seen… welcomed… and included.
‘Will there be someone?’ They are silently, painfully wondering.
We can answer that question so easily with a warm smile or a friendly hello.
Let’s never underestimate the power we hold as ONE PERSON to relieve the angst of another.
Let no one feel invisible around us today.
--Rachel Macy Stafford
✏️🌷Personal note: When I was in middle school, I would have loved to have a locker next to Avery. Although she doesn’t decorate her locker anymore, her smile is still just as welcoming as the signs she put in her 6th grade locker that day.
👂Friends, I invite you to add your back-to-school thoughts, hopes, & heartaches in the comments. By listening to each other’s life experiences, we can raise awareness & spread compassion. My hand in yours. RMS
