I got angry yesterday.

That is so rare. I wanted to throw tables. It flared so fast, with no thought, just flame, directed toward no one. Two little words. A mistake two words long lit up a great big shambles. Opened my eyes, took me by surprise. I felt rage.

There is no one person to blame. But when we fail our children--we parents, we community, we Washington, we teachers--

I took a brief walk. I shed tears. I got back to work. Took advantage of an opportunity that appeared out of nowhere to say-'Hey!' It might have eventual impact.

So. I don’t know how to fix the big problem I stumbled into. But I do know not to shrug. I do know to rattle the cogs in my small section of the machine. And I know if enough of us take care of our little bit, if we take our responsibility to our children seriously, if we pay attention, are mindful of our children, it will come right.

All children are our children.

Sometimes things that are broken get attention. That’s the only good I can see here.