The Knife Story (Part 2)
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2024-2025
Last time, I left you hanging regarding what transpired with the student I had busted when his backpack fell over revealing his dad’s hunting knife. I had given him the option of telling his dad or I would. After dealing with me, he announced his imminent death as he went home to tell his father about the incident.
The next day, he came to my class very early, only to hear my exaggerated, “I thought you were dead!” This was to show him that perhaps he had been a bit melodramatic. He then shared the interesting way this saga went.
After confessing to his dad that he had taken his knife to school to settle the score, his dad demanded the boy get ready to leave the house in ten minutes. Needless to say, the boy was convinced his dad was taking him out somewhere to permanently put an end to his foolishness. But that is obviously not what happened.
Dad did not take his son out to end his life; instead, they went to the boy’s favourite pizza place. Dad then recounted his own story about how he had done precisely the same thing when he was about the same age as his son. Unfortunately, he was not intercepted by his biology teacher as the boy had been, and he did injure someone seriously enough to spend some time in jail.
He took the time to explain that even though we may think the best approach is to take a particular matter into our own hands, the outcome is usually not good. He went on to tell his son stories the boy had never heard and the boy soon discovered his dad had learned some very important lessons on how to best conduct oneself in unpleasant situations. The lesson was an easy one: walk away.
I was very pleased to meet this super dad at the end of day when I returned the knife to him. We had such a good conversation about life and teenage boys and what it was like to be native American in an immigrant school that as the dad left, we shared a hug. Everyone learned much that day, including the son who adopted a new attitude, the dad who gained a new understanding of what his son was going through, and me who was given the opportunity to see into the lives of wonderful people struggling with the injustices of life.
We all struggle with injustices in some way. How do you handle them?
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