A prayer

Sigh...

I'm sad today. We had a tragedy at our school.

One of our students (10th grade) killed himself. We received a call from the Sheriff's department about 11:30 this morning. The boy's grandmother was coming to pick up his older brother. The Sheriff's office said only..."he has been hit by a train".

How sad.

Our principal took us (the secretaries) out to lunch to celebrate Secretaries Day. During our luncheon he received "the call". The student died.

After we returned to school there was a lot of activity...the superintendent, assistant superintendent and other administrators were in a meeting. We (in the office) were told that this boy...10th grade...had killed himself. He lay down on the railroad tracks and waited for a train. So sad.

At the end of the day the faculty and staff were called to the auditorium to gather as a unit and hear the news. The last time we had one of "these" meetings was when a beloved teacher died in an automobile accident.

It was sad. My heart goes out to the family. My heart goes out to this boy who was so desperate that he took his own life. I feel empty.

Tomorrow the students will probably know. From what we were told, there will be a broadcast call to our students' homes tonight, telling them. It will probably be on the news later tonight. There will probably be news crews at our school tomorrow. I hope the news crews don't come. It's horrible to prey on people as they grieve.

Dear Father in Heaven, I pray for the family of this young man. Please comfort them as they try to deal with the grief and the horror of this situation. I pray for your forgiveness of this boy's taking of his life, as he had to be so desperate to do this...a person has to be so lost do such a thing. Please look after the students and staff at school tomorrow. Give our counselors the guidance they need as they help students sort out this awful tragedy. In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.