KS&L 318 The Invisible Teenager Part 1

Recently, a fifteen-year-old teenager had a disturbing and very haunting dream. She was not quite sure what it meant. Here is the dream:

“I am in my high school history class. There is a teenage boy there and he is lying down. People just seem to step over him. He wants help but he cannot understand why no one seems to be able to see him or even ask what the problem is. They just do not seem to know he is there. He talks to me and I listen to him. I work hard to get help, call 911, but no one hears me.

His heart is so sad. His parents cannot hear him, his teachers think he is a joke, his friends are off somewhere texting someone else. He feels like he is dying inside. He is in pain. He would cry, but he isn’t sure anyone would hear him, much less care. He feels that if he did die, no one would care.”

The teenager who had the dream is very sad when she awakens and she asks her Aunt what it means. Her Aunt asks the following questions:
Does she know anyone like this at school? Does she know anyone whom she believes is putting on a brave face, but inside they seem to emotionally dying a bit more every day?

Does she ever feel she can hear the thoughts of some of the kids in her High School?

What is she seeing as she walks the halls? What is she seeing beyond the heavy backpacks, cell phones and endless text messengers? These are her answers:

“Every day when I go to school, I see all these kids that no one seems to care about. They are arrogant, insecure and often think of themselves as hopeless. There is the guy who always wants to know what I bring for lunch. I know he never eats breakfast and no one seems to care about whether or not he goes to school. He cannot seem to grow because he is so malnourished. If he is lucky, he has a granola bar for lunch. Sometimes my Mom sends me with extra food so that I can have food to share with him. She makes him protein muffins. He loves them. He seems to drool over my fruit salad and chicken salad sandwiches. My Mom helps me to care about him. He is such a good kid, but to his parents he appears to be invisible.

I worry about Sara in my math class. Her parents are divorced and when she has to spend time with her father, he tells her he hates her and that she is a fat pig and worthless. She dare not tell her Mom because then her Mom would be angrier than she already is with her father. Her Mom also ignores her. I hate going to school and hearing how so many parents abuse their kids.

All the kids in my English class think I am some type of brain because I make all As, but all I do is pay attention in class and do the homework. The kids seem to be jealous of me and finally I started sitting them down and telling them how they can make As and bring up their grades. Some of them are actually doing it. I tell them that they are not dumb like their families say they are. I tell them they are just as smart as I am and finally, a few of them are starting to believe me. I am trying to help them. I want to help. My heart goes out to each of them, but I feel overwhelmed with the vast numbers of profoundly unhappy kids.

The teachers are totally apathetic. Why don’t they care about these kids? Why can’t they see the problems these kids have?
What can I do? What does the dream mean?”

In part 2, the dream is interpreted.