Post by eb204 on Mar 13, 2009 13:05:39 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/napertalk/1475038,6_4_NA13_PAGE2COL_S1.article
March 13, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
Will Rogers -- my home state's favorite son -- once said, "I've never yet met a man I didn't like."
He said that about Leon Trotsky. So I'm more than comfortable saying it about the people I've covered on the education beat these past five years.
Rogers also said, "All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance."
That brings me to this horrible situation I've spent the past few weeks covering: the allegations of sexual assault against two Gregory Middle School students.
Truly, few experiences in my reporting career have been as frustrating as this one. Rumors are running rampant. Hearsay seems responsible for half of what people "know" of this situation; newspaper articles appear to account for the other half.
As the writer of many of those stories, I can't say they've been exceptionally useful ones. They've chronicled folks' fears and frustrations, they've described how people have behaved and they've detailed the consequences of some of those actions, but I don't know that they've "helped."
I believe that's because the facts -- real, honest-to-goodness, independently confirmed, agreed-upon facts -- about what has happened and what could be done are in short supply.
That's why all I'm comfortable saying is that it seems as though something awful happened Nov. 11. It involved three preteen kids, two of whom now stand accused of sexually assaulting the third.
Now, you'd have to be a bad person -- someone I wouldn't want to meet -- if you weren't bothered by this. You'd have to be a bad person if you didn't want to heal the wounds that have been created by it.
When I study that District 204 board room, I don't see bad people.
Rather, I see people who volunteer untold hours of their time to run a school district. I see people who have sacrificed time with their families to attend tedious school board meetings so they can advocate on behalf of an alleged 11-year-old sexual assault victim and his family.
I see good people -- passionate people.
Unfortunately, their emotions have gotten the best of them at times.
Truly, I don't know that any of this commotion has brought us any closer to liberty or justice. To my mind, it has primarily made good people -- and a good school district -- look bad. That's easy enough to do when you're standing at a podium or sending out prepared statements.
But I don't know that it has "helped."
What has it done for the victim? For the accused? For you? For the rest of us?
Remember, Rogers also said, "People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing."
Moving forward, I hope everyone keeps that in mind.
March 13, 2009
By TIM WALDORF twaldorf@scn1.com
Will Rogers -- my home state's favorite son -- once said, "I've never yet met a man I didn't like."
He said that about Leon Trotsky. So I'm more than comfortable saying it about the people I've covered on the education beat these past five years.
Rogers also said, "All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance."
That brings me to this horrible situation I've spent the past few weeks covering: the allegations of sexual assault against two Gregory Middle School students.
Truly, few experiences in my reporting career have been as frustrating as this one. Rumors are running rampant. Hearsay seems responsible for half of what people "know" of this situation; newspaper articles appear to account for the other half.
As the writer of many of those stories, I can't say they've been exceptionally useful ones. They've chronicled folks' fears and frustrations, they've described how people have behaved and they've detailed the consequences of some of those actions, but I don't know that they've "helped."
I believe that's because the facts -- real, honest-to-goodness, independently confirmed, agreed-upon facts -- about what has happened and what could be done are in short supply.
That's why all I'm comfortable saying is that it seems as though something awful happened Nov. 11. It involved three preteen kids, two of whom now stand accused of sexually assaulting the third.
Now, you'd have to be a bad person -- someone I wouldn't want to meet -- if you weren't bothered by this. You'd have to be a bad person if you didn't want to heal the wounds that have been created by it.
When I study that District 204 board room, I don't see bad people.
Rather, I see people who volunteer untold hours of their time to run a school district. I see people who have sacrificed time with their families to attend tedious school board meetings so they can advocate on behalf of an alleged 11-year-old sexual assault victim and his family.
I see good people -- passionate people.
Unfortunately, their emotions have gotten the best of them at times.
Truly, I don't know that any of this commotion has brought us any closer to liberty or justice. To my mind, it has primarily made good people -- and a good school district -- look bad. That's easy enough to do when you're standing at a podium or sending out prepared statements.
But I don't know that it has "helped."
What has it done for the victim? For the accused? For you? For the rest of us?
Remember, Rogers also said, "People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing."
Moving forward, I hope everyone keeps that in mind.