Just One More

Today I spoke with my boss about a particularly sticky student situation. One of the kids that I'm responsible for is failing and is in danger of being thrown out of school, and I'm trying to get him into different programs to help him. But, at every turn, I've met roadblocks. I finally requested a meeting with my supervisor to get some ideas.

She was stymied too. Finally she said, "You know, you can't save them all."

"I know," I reply, "I'm only interested in saving this one."

She chuckled. "Well, really, you've tried. You've tried a lot. And the situation is just so tough. I think that eventually you just have to say, 'Well, I did what I could.'"

I blinked. "Well, that's not much consolation to him."

"But really, what more can you do?" she asked. "The circumstances are just rough. You have to know when to walk away and know that you tried your hardest."

I could feel myself getting stubborn. "But that's not much help to this kid," I said, tapping the file folder full of documents I've collected.

"But like I said," she said gently, "You can't save them all."

"And I'm not interested in saving them all," I said quietly. "Only this one."

She sighed. She rubbed her eyes. "Well, just keep doing what you're doing and let me know," she said. "I'll be interested to see what happens." I just nodded and saw her out of my office.

Really, I know there are hopeless cases. People don't like to hear it, but it's true. I just hope that I always have it in me to save just one more.