Lately, I have been spending my days at Lincoln Park Middle School working as a paraprofessional. I get to work with lots of different kids and go with them to their classes, again meeting all kinds of kids. I have to say I truly stand in awe of middle school teachers and all they deal with in a typical day. This week in WIN (homeroom) the topic was bullying. This is such a crucial topic. The conversations brought up so many feelings for me. I found myself thinking about Gregg, who would have been 24 this week. It was the bullying during his sophomore year of high school that pushed him into a moment of deep despair. His death by suicide is still incomprehensible as Gregg often found so much joy in life, especially with his family.
He knew joy while working hundreds of hours with his dad, Mike on cars. Gregg learned what he knew from Mike, who was a mechanic with the 148th Fighter Unit. Gregg and his dad were working on Gregg’s Pontiac Firebird, a third generation. They were close to finishing it, just a few more tweaks and some dark blue paint. Gregg had purchased two cars, one simply for parts to create his Firebird. He had earned all the money for these cars from his lawn mowing business. I believe it is no coincidence that Gregg’s car was a Firebird. In mythology the Phoenix rises out of the ashes after a three-day journey. This is like Jesus’ resurrection story as he too rises after three days in the tomb. Both stories are reminders that there is more, there is always more love and life.
The imagery of the Phoenix, the firebird, is also prevalent in the Harry Potter series which Gregg loved. He was part of a neighborhood Hogwarts club when he was younger. In the Harry Potter series, the phoenix Fakes is Professor Dumbledore’s loyal pet, but so much more. He is a symbol of good rising out of the ashes of evil. The Firebird is a symbol of hope. JK Rowling’s fifth book in the series is even called The Order of the Phoenix. It is the name of the group of kids that will fight the forces of evil.
I appreciate so much what the staff of Lincoln Park Middle School are trying to do by calling out bullying, especially given the recent events at a neighboring local high school. We are all called to be the Order of the Phoenix, to take on anything or anyone that would demean or hurt another person. In the words of Romans 12, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all . . . Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for God . . . No, if your enemies are hungry feed them, if they are thirsty give them something to drink . . . Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”
In Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, these words follow Professor Dumbledore’s death, “Somewhere out in the darkness, a phoenix was singing in a way Harry had never heard before, a stricken lament of terrible beauty. Harry felt, as he had felt about the phoenix song before, that the music was inside him, not without. It was his own grief turned magically to song that echoed across the grounds and through the castle window. How long they all stood there, listening, they did not know, nor why it seemed to ease their pain a little . . .”
Gregg too has risen from the ashes of hate. Listen and you will hear his song in the roaring of a car engine, in the hum of a lawn mower, in the splash of swimmers jumping off the icehouse; listen as you lay back in the dark and counting the stars.
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