When I am here, within these wall, and in conversation with you, I am in the role of a teacher. That role has certain privileges and responsibilities. But I am also a community member of the city of Boston, and know the ins and outs of this place. When meetings like this one happen, it simply inspires fear in me. I know how susceptible young people are to dangers. I know our city has a rip tide of escalating violence that lurks beneath the facade of A City on a Hill, with our honorable history and historic names. I know that drug use has ravaged this city before, and in waves drowns people, many who began innocently enough at a young age. When I am brought into a conversation that reveals to me the perils my students face, it magnifies tenfold, because I have seen it before. So please recognize that I don’t look down on any of you, nor feel the need to judge, I just get overwhelmed by fear and blow my whistle, post signs of the rip tide, try to show you how to fight the current, and act as a life guard. But still you dare to swim too far and still you test and test the waters.