The Quiet Emergency: When Adults Look Away and Kids Learn to Disappear

end with her becoming hardened and numb and cynical, like some commenters online think is the goal.

It meant she was still soft.

And softness—real softness—isn’t weakness.

It’s courage.

A few weeks later, I got another email from the old school.

A generic district email.

A survey.

They wanted feedback on “school climate.”

I stared at it for a long time.

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