HIGHER

My youngest got into shenanigans this week. 
She and some of her friends were passing notes in class and were caught.
The notes were not the most appropriate. When they were caught, my child swiftly replaced the inappropriate note with a pre-made flower that she happened to have in her bag. It was actually something she drew for me. She gave it to the teacher and saved the day.
On our way to synagogue the other day with big eyes and a big bow in her hair she asked me, “Mommy did you ever send notes to friends in class?”
I knew this was a trick question so I answered cautiously. 
“I have,” I said.
“Well…” and she told me the story. She was giggling the whole time and so proud of what she did that I really didn’t have it in me to get mad. 
Maybe it was not the best parenting, but I gave her a high five and laughed when she told me what she did. 
And then I tried to say in a stern voice, “When the teacher tells you to stop, stop, and since you got caught, don’t do it any more. Okay?
She slid her hand into mine and said, “Of course!” and skipped the rest of the way to synagogue relieved that I didn’t get angry and feeling that she had saved the day, as we continued to chat.

Many of the girls I work with in Juvie take the blame, the fall and the punishment for crimes they didn’t commit.
Most of the time it is for a boyfriend, a family member, or a partner in crime they feel they have to cover for. 

Loyalty in the street is a very serious thing. I am very careful when I engage the girls in conversation around this topic. 
My girls in Juvie explain to me how they had to take the fall, how they had to save the day, how they don’t mind sitting in jail for the man they love. 

“He is not a man if he lets you take the blame for something he did.”  Cliché as it sounds, I believe it’s true. 
One girl in almost the same innocent voice of my daughter asked just like her, “Is it bad what I did?”
Unlike my 9-year-old child, this child, who is 14, had a really harsh consequence for “stepping up.”
“Sweetie,” I said, “It’s not about good or bad. It’s about a choice you made and the price you had to pay. Why should you be punished for something you didn’t do?”

Many times I hear stories of how the girls get dragged into a crime and are totally thrown under the bus when the heat is on – abandoned and left to be caught, punished, and to serve time just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I know the ethics of the street are different than the ones I know, but my heart literally hurts when I hear the same story again and again.
These girls of mine in Juvie are loyal and have good hearts. Yes, they have good hearts, but they are used, taken advantage of and totally abandoned, left to take the blame when someone else should have stepped up for them.

This week was Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

In my beloved synagogue, they have inspirational quotes hanging over where we pray.
For the majority of the 24 hours, I was right in front of Michelle Obama’s quote, “When they go low, we go high.”

“Ms., I don’t need my brother to take the blame for this crime. They would take him to county jail. It’s okay. I’m here for a few months and then I’m out.”
“That’s a big sacrifice,” I say.  
She shrugged her shoulders.
“He is my brother.”

Sometimes we just go high.
“I am sorry,” I say to her. “I wish you didn’t feel that you had to do this.”
I believe that in life we should go high even when no one is going low, but when it is right and when we don’t hurt ourselves in the process.

This week a rabbi friend of mine from Seattle generously bought tickets for ‘LISTEN’. Give the tickets to whomever you want she emailed me. 
Sometimes we just go high.

I broke the fast at a family friend’s house. 
“How much is a ticket for ‘LISTEN’?” she asked me. 
I tell her.
She disappears to the back room and comes out with a check for three tickets. 
“Here,” and she hands the check to me.
Sometimes we just go high.
I am humbled.

More than wanting to make a profit from this event, I want the seats at the Broad Stage to be full on the 30th of October.

At my weekly class at Homeboys Industries, I am told that the 25 tickets we gave them are taken and can they please get some more.
I love my people at Homeboys. I knew they would step up!
One of my favorites, I kid you not, actually said to me, 
“For you, Ms., we go higher!!”

So, my friends, will you go higher?
Will you join me or sponsor tickets for ‘LISTEN’??

Click here to donate, purchase and/or sponsor tickets: advot.eventbrite.com 

Go high regardless if there is a low.
Go high simply because you can.
Simply because someone asks you too.