Supporting Transgender Kids

A lesson and a poem from a teacher about love and forgiveness

I recently wrote a poem as I worked through forgiving myself. It is about the loss of a transgender student to violence. I was not part of the violence, but I am unsure how I made this student feel in my classroom 20 years ago.

I didn’t carry this around with me for all of these years, but when presented with the situation and reflecting on those years I wondered, “Did I do enough or even know enough to support this student at that time?”

My wonder turned to guilt. I knew it wouldn’t be healthy to hold on to that so I used poetry to process it. I wasn’t sure where the poem would land or if I would even share it. But, here it is:

In memory of a former student

Your full-color photo was in the news.
It will last
forever in my mind
unlike the black and white images
of the past.

This news pulled me back, many years.
It also revived some of my fears.
And for another student lost,
it brought tears.

I was the teacher.
You were the student.
But, it turns out I was the learner.
Our paths may have crossed
for my own improvement.

I was far less than thirty,
you were not yet a teen.
There was an ignorance
bridging between.

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