The following was written by Kirk Bast, an amazing counselor and soccer coach at my school, and a friend. He sent this to our staff on Sunday. With permission from Kirk, I share it with you.
Greetings Arapahoe,
I appreciate your indulgence and understand that this is as much for
me as it is my admiration of you all. Like everyone, I need to
process what has gone on in such a sad, crazy way, but I refuse to let
less than two minutes define the Arapahoe that I know. I do not want
this to be taken wrong but my time at the Crisis Center at Shepherd of
the Hills yesterday helped me understand how the trust between our
faculty, staff and students saved lives and continued to define who we
are. It also made me realize how much I take for granted. We are a
special school and not in that propaganda, BS way: in a way only we
can understand.
I know an Arapahoe where the faculty and staff loves and cherishes the
family within their homes and who are able to extend that love of
family to the walls of Arapahoe High School and beyond. I know that
we are built upon the vision of those who have gone before us. They
helped each other and kids get through challenges that came before us,
whether they be developing the variable schedule or coming together to
process the loss of a member of our Warrior family. We have been
taught well. We pray for Claire and all who need it. We value and
take care of our kids and even when it is difficult, we have always
taken time to reach out to the greater good of the whole. That may
mean gutting it up to show love and fairness to the child of that
parent who seems to be a thorn in our side or pushing away from that
dinner table and wanting to rest on that couch, but we promised that
student we would come see them in that performance or game that
evening.
Friday we were challenged beyond the everyday love and professionalism
that we show to our students. We have heroes that did not want to be
heroes and who wish that they could have done more----you could not
have and what you did was enough, it was all that you had in you. We
are all blessed to have you and deeply appreciate that you put us
before yourselves. Let us be your support now, we are here to listen,
love and hug you all. There are also heroics that extended beyond the
two minutes that we will never forget. They came from teachers and
admin getting students to safe places and doing our best to create a
calm that led our students to feel secure during a moment of insanity.
The prayers that you had for your families, students and yourself
were heard and you will someday be able to see life in greater
appreciation than most. The big things will seem to fade into little
things and the little things will become minuscule. Good. Let the
light of the days of doing your job where you felt like you made a
difference in your students lives shine through. You all deserve to
focus on why you do what you do and not let the insanity of a moment
occupy your heart. It will take time and that will vary for each of
us, and we will look out daily for each other and ask each other
questions that are truly personal and show how much we really love
each other. Walls of everyday life will be broken down and we see
each other in a different light. Awesome. Warrior Pride will be
greater than ever and we will stand by each other and not apologize
for being great.
As hard as it seems to recognize right now, we are blessed. Blessed
by the actions of each other, blessed by the Big Guy above, blessed by
the spirit of the Arapaho Tribe and blessed by the spirit of the
Arapahoe Warrior Community. Those blessings will get us through and
inspire us to fight to take back the Arapahoe that we know. We have
fought before. We have fought for the high standards of our
classrooms, the Arapahoe on the chest of our jerseys and the rights of
our students to have the best scenarios possible in performing,
competing, and all other aspects of a life education. We will fight
again and we will not fight alone, we will battle arm and arm with
each other to make everyone know we are ARAPAHOE. We are defined by
the sum of our parts, not by an irreconcilable action. We are defined
by our power of what we do, the pride of what we have done, the trust
we have in each other, the support we feel from our community and the
love that we have for each other.
Ask when you need, and give when you are ready.
My love and respect,
Kirk
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