Over Reaction

 Last week was tough. Try as we might, the students and staff at our school are struggling to avoid the stress that hangs in the air like the scent of musty coats in the lost and found. Teachers facing the ongoing fight to keep the school open are hanging around late and getting up early to prepare for whatever the next action will be. Making signs. Having meetings about making signs. Creating agendas for meetings about making signs. It seems like our waking moments are spent at school or figuring out how the school can stay there so when we get there we have a place to meet. 

And all of this stress rolls downhill. An early blast of spring-like weather would have been enough in any given year to send our students into a tizzy. The little things become big things, and the big things that hover over them every day of their lives are compressed by the pressure of a bunch of grownups who are not managing their tension as well as they might. Some of our most at-risk kids are more sensitive than they usually are, which is a lot. This means one person cutting in line on the way to the cafeteria can become an afternoon of misery for all those involved. A shove on the playground can blow up into a brawl among first grade soccer players. 

And who is there to calm these stormy seas? A group of adults who are carrying around their last nerves, holding their stretched composure at the end of a day that seems to stretch on and on, with yet another zoom meeting to be had once all the short people have gone home. 

All of which is to say that I understand why Florida's "governor" snapped at a group of high school students during a visit to the University of South Florida last week. All because some of the students were wearing masks. “You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything. We’ve got to stop with this COVID theater. So if you wanna wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous,” he said, letting out an audible sigh and shaking his head. "Governor Ron" was obviously at the end of one of those days when that extra straw of encountering a group of children protecting themselves from a deadly plague set him off. Ironically, out here on the left coast, I find myself getting testy when I have to remind eight year olds to put their masks on. 

But let's just say that I understand the reaction. As awkward and misdirected as it was. I suppose we should congratulate the "governor" for not reaching out and snatching the mask off the kids. And to the kids who didn't knock him out for his trouble.