The phone rang. I saw the 803 number. I picked up. I knew the voice. My stomach lurched as my heart stopped and my throat tightened. "Mrs. Driscoll, how are you today?" It was the principal at Caspian's school. So many thoughts went through my head but the one that would come out would included something like, "why don't you tell me."
Six months have passed since the moments Caspian was pushed down and told,"sit down Jew." We walked through the process and we, as a family, have moved onward. Even though three of our children still attend that school, there hasn't been much interaction with the administration at all. Personally I think we just all found our corners and let time move us away from the horrible events of the Fall.
So the words or something very close to them, Why don't you tell me, would be followed up with the explanation for the phone call. Caspian's teacher had seen him smacking the back of the neck of another student. The principal was explaining how the boys had been doing this and a teacher had seen Caspian do it and they needed to talk to him.
The way we had left it with the administration of the school was that they couldn't talk to Caspian without a parent present. Too many things had happened to allow my heart the confidence that they would walk rightly as it pertained to him. Except.....
They needed to talk to him and this phone call was inviting me in so that I could be there when they did so...
One of the criticisms I faced last fall was that boys were just being boys and I blew the whole thing up to a proportion it should have never been.... There are things that just don't need to be revisited here but back then that was not the case. Boys were not being "just boys" the words and actions of October 10th were horrific.
Except this moment wasn't. It wasn't horrific. In my heart I knew it was just boys being boys. And I knew in my heart where it was that I needed to go.. I could feel the promptings of all I know to be true.
And this is basically what I said... That if it was indeed as he said, and that there were no words or other actions that had transpired. That if this was truly the whole story, then Caspian had done wrong and I wanted them to know that I didn't have to come in, that I trusted their authority in this case and the words kept pouring out of my mouth... Words of blessing and honor and in all that was being said I just knew beyond anything that it was what needed to be said in the moment. Speaking that I trusted their authority in the moment and would support whatever discipline needed to come to our son.
As I would get off the phone I was shaken by the goodness of God. I realized in more and more ways that all that transpired in the fall was sad and horrible and had very little redemptive moments. But here .. in this moment I could speak honor and value.
I have learned more than I ever anticipated from October 10th. I learned I was stronger and more capable than I thought but more than anything I have learned that in the face of hatred, in the face of ignorance the only answer that ever truly works is one covered in mercy and grace and love and respect.
Our fight is never and should never be against one another but a coming alongside each other for the optimum good of all. More than anything I wanted moments of redemption to cover the anger and hatred that flowed into our lives this past Fall and on Friday morning stepping into a place of blessing the principal's authority it felt like it had arrived.
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