Today, students came back to school.
The biggest challenge for all my seniors was to complete a summer assignment wherein they (1) read a book of college application essays written by students who were accepted into Harvard, (2) wrote a short essay where they compared/contrasted two of the essays from that book, and (3) wrote a college entrance essay of their own in response to one of several prompts on the Common App website.
I will sum up student day one by saying that I am excited about each of my classes. However, I want to focus my notes tonight on two stories; one from a student essay and one ripped from today’s local news.
One of the essays read today was written by a student from a large family. She humorously recalled wishing people would think she owned the cool BMW in the parking lot, but instead she had to climb into the 12-passenger van at the end of the day. She described dressing multiple siblings for church, and changing myriad diapers. She did not realize the positive effect of a large and loving family, however, until a mission trip when she found herself subconsciously drawn to crying babies. Whereas some students could not connect with the young, she comforted, carried, and “mothered” the children effortlessly. So ends story #1.
Story #2 began in 2013 with the birth of a little girl, Laila Daniel. Laila and her older sister moved into foster care in the home of Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum in 2015. In November 2015, Jennifer Rosenbaum called 911 to report that Laila was choking on a chicken nugget. Laila died, but her little body told a story completely different from death by choking. The coroners found no chicken in her system at all, but their findings revealed multiple, violent, and heinous injuries. The judge said this was “one of the most horrible crimes and outcomes anyone would ever dream of.”
Today, nearly four years after Laila’s death, Jennifer Rosenbaum was convicted on 47 of 49 counts, including aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and first-degree cruelty to children. The most serious conviction was felony murder. Husband Joseph was convicted on fewer counts, and found not guilty of the felony murder charge. She received life plus forty years (approximately 85 years); he, 30 incarcerated years plus 20 on probation.
Two very different stories of two girls headed toward a very different future. One girl plans to graduate in May, and the other should have entered kindergarten this fall. As teachers, we want to reach every child, save every child.
Some would blame God and question where He was four year ago in November. But these sad circumstances are certainly not an indication that God is absent, weak, or callous. Rather, I see in today’s proceedings the logical demonstration of the effects of sin upon a creation that “itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). As The Message paraphrases the idea, “The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next.”
The wheels of time grind slow, but fine, and one day every wrong will be made right in the court of the Righteous Judge.
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