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May 28, 2009
Oh my
So, on Thursdays I volunteer at my friend's school on the south side, where I help coach kids at soccer. It's fun, we all get to run around, and I get to teach soccer to kids.
Today the whole thing fell apart. As we were standing in our field stretching, I saw two teenagers a little ways down walking around like they were up to no good. They then disappeared around the corner, and a few seconds later I heard two loud bangs - gunshots.
One of the kids then ran back from where he came, as all my kids looked around unsure about what to do. Finally we gathered everyone up and went inside as the police and an ambulance swooped in. All the adults at the school stood watch and got everyone inside, and as we were going in I could very clearly see somebody lying in the street. He wasn't moving, and I'm not really sure how he was.
What can you really do about it? The kids I coach are in second to fourth grade, young enough to not cause mischief but old enough to know what's going on. I know many of them are good kids, but some of them are going to end up in trouble. It's inevitable. When you have shootings in the neighborhood, across the street from a school, it's really hard to feel optimistic about the future.
I'm lucky. I can go run off to my apartment in Lincoln Park, but those kids are there all the time. They'd all heard gun shots before. They weren't surprised by it - angry and sad, but not surprised. I saw the same thing working with the public defender two summers ago. Count your blessings, is all I can say.
entry no. 1383
Posted at May 28, 2009 03:31 PM