June 21, 2012

Yesterday my camera was stolen. After working all day with a group of about 36 high school students (and a couple of youngsters), my camera was taken out of my bag.Upon noticing, I told a few students and pretty soon several were in an furry. The principal, which was in the administer training came (even though it was after 3 and the sessions had ended), they all stayed and tried to figure it out. I told them not to worry and that it was my fault for having it out and not watching it. They were mortified, saying how it was "a shame on Liberia" and "not right." As the teachers and I pulled away for the day, we left the group working it out, trying to get the story straight and using cycles to bring in the students who knew everyone that was in the room. This morning when I arrived and was quickly getting my Language Arts teachers and students together, they all were apt to talk to me. They told me they had figured out who the three students were that came in and were not really part but interested and they plotted to take it. One student did. All three were taken to the police and one confessed saying that it wasnt him, but a friend. Now the friend wasnt in the room, so everyone knew it musta been the boy. So, the teachers went to the house of the suspicious friend and when the friend tried to run out the back, they caught him and took him to the police. The camera was found too. This all was happening after 9pm. They came together and wouldnt let it stand. They took action. The boy was in jail as of this morning. So, I asked, after being regaled with the story of his "capture," where is he now? " I was told he was in jail because there was no collateral to get him out. I asked where the camera was.At the police station. I told them to use the camera for collateral and to get him out. The most important lesson for me though was that humanity is good and can come together to make someone feel important. I felt it, heck, I was told it! "When someone does something to someone we care about, they are doing it to all of us." Best lesson ever. Humanity is wonderful, complicated and wonderful.