The empty seat in the classroom

Our story today on the death of two Eastern High School students in a car crash resonates with me. I once taught in a high school that, like Eastern, had a string of tragic car crashes and, over several years, several student suicides.

High schools can seem like pretty transitory places with young people passing through (they like to remind you) as quickly as they can. But that's only surface talk. The truth is that over the course of four years, teachers and principals grow close to the teenagers who slide into their classrooms just before the tardy bell, or stay after class to ask a question when their peers aren't around, or act like tough guys so they don't have to show you how tender their hearts are.

When you lose one of those kids, it's awful. I can still see exactly where each one sat in my classroom, remember my last conversation with him or her. I hope it is of some small comfort to their parents to know that their children remain in their teachers' hearts.