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Dear reader,
There is no more fulfilling sentiment for an educator than to reach the heart of an unhappy child. Teachers can not teach students they don't know. Parents alike. Please take these sad stories seriously; they may open the gate to understanding a young person's actions and can sometimes prevent serious consequences. Listen to their say. And then act.

THE PARENTS AND THE SON Albert Santana, Rosa Victoria, Erwin Reyes

My parents were people who never had time to talk to me, to hear me and to educate me.
My father always came late when I sleep. In the morning when I wake up he sleeps, so I can never talk to him. He never gave me love and education. My mother was the only person that can talk about all my things. She never went to school. For this reason she couldn't help me with my homework. Some of these homework that I did were wrong, and I got low grades.
        This happened because they were people who never had time to talk to me, to hear me and to educate me. Sometimes I want to go to a party and I want to meet with a girl that I love with all my heart, but my parents never let me go there because they think something bad will happen there. This makes me so sad and angry because I really want to go there to see her.
         This happened because they were people who never had time to talk to me, to educate me. At my high school graduation they weren't there. I was so sad and I thought that they didn' t care about that day which was so important. They weren't there and that happened because my parents were people who never had time to talk to me, to hear me and to educate me.
         It was my wedding day and they just called. I was alone, they weren't there. I felt that they didn't care. That is going to stay in my heart forever in my life. I think that the love that I have for them I just forgot.
               And that happened because they were people who never had time to talk to me, to hear me and to educate me.

THE DECISION
N.L.
One of my saddest moments was at the age of 4. I had to choose between my mother and father. At that time my parents were divorced and my mother wanted us to go and live with her. This was sad because I didn't want to choose between them. This situation was out of control because my parents couldn't agree with each other. The problem between my parents made me so sad because I watched my parents discuss about whom my brother and I were going to live with. It got so out of hand because my mother took my father to the court. This choice was hard for me because it made me feel like everything was falling apart. I felt lonely and I wanted to cry a lot. Also I screamed at my parents because they put me in a position that I didn't know what to do. I was getting tired of the lawyers asking me to choose between my mother and my father. My parents didn't notice that with their attitude they were hurting me and my brother. Yet they were hurting me and my brothers a lot. At that time I felt confused and stressed and I felt really sad. At the end my father told me to choose my mother, but I still wasn't happy because at the time I always got the hope that my parents will get back together and we will be a family again, but I understood that my parents stopped loving each other and that they will always love me.

WHEN MY GRANDMOTHER DIED
R. L.       I was crying because my grandmother Maria was very sick in the Dominican Republic. She was in bed and I was with her. She looked very sick and quiet. I was so sad because she was a woman that was always happy and smiling. In the evening I went to my house to sleep. At midnight the telephone rang and it was my uncle Joaquin. He was crying. My father asked him, "What happened? Is it Maria? "My uncle answered " Yes, it is my mother". My father started crying. He felt very sad because he loved her as if she were his mother.
      My grandmother Maria died on March 6, 1991 at 3:00 o'clock in the morning of cancer in the pancreas. When my father gave us the bad news I felt that my heart was broken into many pieces. I was crying like for two hours. When my father, my sister, my brother, some friends from my neighborhood and I went to my uncle's house everyone was so quiet in the car. I immediately went to the bedroom where my grandmother was. She was there; she looked lonely and thin. I touched her and she was cold. She had cotton in her nose. I lay down next to her and I was touching her head with my hands. My tears were falling on her.
      One woman that was in the same room said, "Leave her alone. You can't stay with her because that's bad". She took me out of the room. I was wailing.
      Maria was special for me because she always was with us. She took care of us when my parents were working. Furthermore, she took me anywhere she had to go. The relationship between her and me was so deep.
      In the afternoon we went to bury her. The cemetery was full of people. They were crying, specially my mother and her other sisters. My sister my brother and I were crying a lot.
      After a week after my grandmother died I was sleeping and I opened my eyes. I saw a black and tall person standing in front of me. I closed my eyes. Immediately, I thought that my grandmother Maria was there to protect me.

ALBANIAN TRAGEDY Felics Gjecka

"What's wrong", I asked him. He saw me and he said. "I will tell you a sad story that happened to my family two years ago.
It was February, 1996. Our country, Albania, was in war. It was very difficult to live. Everybody wanted to leave the country for a better life. One of them was my son. He took his wife and his son and they went to the port. A fishing boat was leaving that cold winter night to reach the Italian coast. The boat was overloaded with people. There were 158 people, among them women with babies.
The boat left slowly our coast at 9 o'clock in the night. There was no moon that night in the sky. It was very dark. Babies were crying. They were scared from the darkness.
After two hours the boat was five miles from the Italian coast. Everybody was happy. They were reaching the hope coast. In that moment the sea became very savage. Big waves were coming toward the boat. Everything happened only in a few seconds. The overloaded boat couldn't resist those big angry waves. The boat sank slowly at the bottom of the dark cold sea. 158 people died that cold winter night. Among them my family.
Can't you hear now my nephew calling me, grandpa, grandpa, I am coming? Can't you..." (silence)
The old man was sobbing. In tears in my eyes I said to myself, "This is our destiny".
Last summer I went to the beach in the afternoon. I was walking in the store and I saw an old man who was looking at the sea and holding a shell in his hand. His hair was white and his face was full with wrinkles. When I passed near him I saw some drops of tears sliding on his face.

THE PROMISE
Feliks Gjecka

Long time ago in Albania there was an old woman that had seven boys and one girl. Her husband died many years ago. She was very happy because she lived with her children. One day her daughter, Dorontina, fell in love with one man. She loved him but her mother didn't want her to marry that man because he lived far away. The old woman wanted to see her single daughter once a month. The smallest brother named Kostandin loved his sister very much, so he promised his mother that he was going to bring his sister every time that his mother wanted. He promised that his words were never going to die. After Kostandin promised his mother, Dorontina married the man that she loved. Kostandin brought his sister every time that his mother asked for her. The old woman was very happy. Kostandin had a black horse and he had to pass seven mountains to get his sister.
Years passed very slowly. After three years that Dorontina was married, a sad notice came to Albania. Every man had to go to war. The seven men went to war. Their sister didn't know anything because she lived far away. The seven brothers died in the war. The old woman cried for days and nights without stopping. Now she was alone. All her son died and her one girl was far away. Seven tombs were built.
One night the old woman went to the cemetery to light one candle to each tomb. When she came near Kostandin's tomb she didn't light a candle, but she cursed him. "Where is your promise, Kostandin? Your promised is dead. The ground is never going to hold your body. Damn it, all the day that you gave me the promise."
Then the woman went home. The other night she heard knocking at the door. She opened the door, and she saw in front of her, her daughter, Dorontina. She was astonished.
"How did you come over here?" asked the old woman.
"My brother, Kostandin, brought me here"
"Who? Kostandin?" Said her mother.
"Yes, why, what's wrong mother?"
"You saw his face?" asked the old woman.
"No, it was night and he wore a black pelerine. He said to me to hurry up. I took the clothes and I jumped the black horse. We rode for hours and hours and he didn't say a single word.
His pelerine was very dirty. I asked him why his clothes were so dirty and he said to me that when he came to take me, it was raining very hard. Kostadin rode the horse through the darkness for hours and hours without stopping.
When we arrived he said to me to go home because he had to talk with the churchman at the cemetery.
I came here and went away.
"Kostandin died with his brother in the war seven days ago" said the old woman to her daughter.
Then they embraced each other and their hearts stopped at the same time.

Jimmy Martinez
I want to be an architect in the future. I want to build a lot of many stadiums, apartment houses, schools and hospitals. I want to work in Mexico, specifically in Mexico City. I want to see my country improve. This is my dream about my future.