"How to make snowflakes.
I went to high school on the South Side of Chicago, a couple blocks from the toll booths on the Chicago Skyway.
We lived between the old US Steel South Works and the City Incinerator.
The teams were called Boilermakers.
We lived between the old US Steel South Works and the City Incinerator.
The teams were called Boilermakers.
Sometimes in gym class we chose teams: the Jews against the Mexicans.
Occasionally someone pulled the fire alarm. Usually during finals or midterm exams.
We laughed.
Now I live in Southeastern Michigan.
Someone pulled a false alarm.
A message came from the synagogue clergy:
“This afternoon Bloomfield Hills High School was evacuated under suspicion of an active shooter. The good news is that this was a false alarm. The bad news is that our teens truly believed they were running for their lives.”
The message then assured young people they could look to clergy for counseling and prayers.
Roughly 4,000 people live in Bloomfield Hills; 40% of its homes are worth over $1 million and another 32% are worth $500,000 to $999,000 (Wikipedia).
The vast majority of students at Bloomfield Hills High know they’ll be going to UMich, one of the Ivies or another Big Ten school.
They don’t need counseling and prayers.
They need to learn self reliance and self defense.
They need to feel as if they are part of a community, a country and a religion, each of which they can be proud of.
They need to feel as if they are part of a community, a country and a religion, each of which they can be proud of.
Want snowflakes?
Counsel them; make them victims.
Want adults?
Challenge them; make them stronger.
Snowflakes melt with heat.
Steel bends but does not break.
Steel bends but does not break.
Make steel, not snow."
