cause i'm dreaming of you tonight...

so, one of my delta friends, somebody from the same background situation as many of my students, told me a few nights ago that when he was younger (17), he was involved in some gang-type mess that got him arrested and expelled from school. now, before you jump to any conclusions, one of my students knows him and has confirmed my "he's a good guy" instinct. and i guess that his situation has been rolling around in my head, because i had a dream last night that one of my favorite wanna-be-a-thug students was shot by one of my other wanna-be-a-thug students. i adore both of these kids, of course, so i woke up in a panic.

then... earlier this morning, we had the 9/11 anniversary "stand around the flagpole in remembrance" bonding time, and all i could think of during the moment of silence was "please, god, protect my students from all of the mess that's in their lives." i don't usually pray at these things, because i'm such an advocate of separation between church and state, but i almost started crying because the urge to protect my babies from the gangs, from the guns, from abusive parents, from poverty... all of the crap they deal with every day... was so very, very strong.

am i getting too close? or is this just a natural part of loving and working with these kids every day?