Gratitude|Undeveloped Brains|Teenagers
Yesterday Something Horrible Happened But Today I Am Grateful For It
Sometimes gratitude is a fickle S.O.B.
Yesterday morning was a real heart-starter.
My teenage grandson, Z, had an ‘accident’ at school. I’ll call it that because it wasn’t an ‘on purpose.’ The Deputy Principal said he was in a group of boys, ‘play fighting,’ and his best mate ‘accidentally’ pushed him too hard.
He had fallen backwards and put his head through a window.
The force of the blow smashed the entire ceiling to floor pane of glass, and given him a concussion.
Teenage brains are made of porridge.
This could have been a lengthy article about the underdeveloped adolescent pre-frontal cortex. It isn’t.
You know, that thing in a teenager’s noggin that takes all sense and restraint out of dangerous situations. That thing that turns their brains to mush when it comes to good judgement about life-threatening, risky situations.
Go we are we the doctor going to are we?
By the time his mother picked him up he was talking jibberish. He often sounds like he’s talking jibberish because he’s a kid who emulates TikTok.
But this jibberish was different. Z thought he was making perfect sense. The first sign that something was terribly wrong.
Second sign. He couldn’t walk a straight line. Tried hard but couldn’t.
#3 He was as white as a white kid could get.
He was increasingly nauseated. This boy could eat his bodyweight in burgers and fries, and he’s never vomited. №4.
Fifthly, he had a mother of all headaches.
Last one: he was constantly dizzy and feint.
The doctor diagnosed a severe concussion and ordered Z to rest. No sport for three weeks.
The boy is no 90lb weakling.
This kid is nearly fifteen, six feet two inches at last measure, and weighs 110 kgs (about 242 pounds) of solid muscle.
He’s taken some brutal knocks on the rugby field, and had a bad concussion a while back when he stopped a soccer ball in full flight with his forehead.
But this felt a lot more terrifying, seeing him so debilitated by such a randomly stupid and dangerous act.
Yesterday I wasn’t, but today I wake up grateful
It took 24 hours to see the ‘whatifs:’
Whatif the glass wasn’t safety glass, and had splintered into shards instead of shattering into a thousand small uniform pieces?
Whatif it had pierced his neck, or his brain?
Whatif he had become unconscious?
Whatif he had been away from responsible adults who could help him?
I am truly grateful for all of these things.
Z, and the mate that pushed him, have had a sobering wake-up call. The porridge-for-brains have learned some kind of lesson, as they come to grips with their fragile existence on this planet.
I know you can’t put a fully developed pre-frontal cortex on young shoulders, but I’m super grateful for the lesson that’s been learned.