Had a situation where a student got caught up in the mix.  It wasn’t his fight - it had nothing to do with him directly, nor did it have anything to do with the people on whose “behalf” he was acting.  Not really.  But there he was, all in the middle of the action.  The resultant action by the administration was swift and decisive.  His parents thought it was too severe.  Because summer school is over and because I didn’t really have the time to talk to them, I didn’t get real deep on it when I saw them, but here are my thoughts on the situation.

Looking at it objectively, lots of people want to be at the center of the action.  People wanna be there when it goes down because that gives them some sort of notoriety when they describe the scene to their “unlucky” friends who missed out.  In a way, I guess they’re like sports journalists - they’re not actualy in the game, but because of their proximity, they can write themselves into the story and in turn get some type of celebrity.  Like that new Toyota comercial says, it’s not so much about what you did, it’s about being there when it happened - wherever “there” is.

For most people, it works out pretty well most of the time.  They come out unhurt, with good stories.  On the other hand, I’m pretty sure there are lots of people in jails, hospitals, and cemeteries who had the same plans.  “As long as I’m not directly involved, I should be okay, right?”   Only problem is, it doesn’t always work that way.  Lots of people fail to recognize that until it’s too late.  Personally, I hope that that student learns from this moment that the center of the action is not always the place to be.

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