Sunday, September 16, 2007

Trapped

This weekend was a beautiful fall weekend. The air was warmish with that underlying fall crispness. The leaves were yellow and beautifully reflected in the lake next to my house. I so wanted to go outside and enjoy it but I couldn't it. I was trapped in my house.

Across the creek that runs in front of my house, there is a house where there has been a party all week. I don't think that they have stopped drinking for 7 whole days. Friday night some of my students joined them and on Saturday morning they were hanging out by the teacher's houses. One of them with his bloodied shirt trying to stop his on and off again girlfriend from picking fights with other guys. Their drama unfolded in front of us. One second loving each other, the next yelling at each other. I stood at my window to be sure that they were safe and not being harmed. But I didn't feel like I could leave the house because I did not want to deal first hand with the drama.

After they left, the party at the house moved directly across the bridge. A crowd of 15 people sat in the grass and continued their drinking. They were sitting right by the path that I walk on. So I left my house and went to school. I didn't want to leave the safety of the teacher's houses. Not that I feared that I would be harmed physically but I just didn't want to deal with the drunkeness of former students and present students. I didn't want to feel harrassed. I didn't want to feel awkward.

I was trapped in my house. The alcohol in the community affects everyone - even myself.

2 comments:

Amy.E said...

You're sure dealing with some heavy stuff right on your doorstep! I think about you often and admire your dedication to education in that community.

Hillary said...

Wow. That does not sound pleasant. I am proud of you for being a different presence in that community. May you continue to know how to live and love. Thinking of you.