Sad for my boy

WTF? When it rains it pours. My one kid. The one that wanted to join a gang and that I talked out of it. The one with a good heart but very little self control. He's been acting out again. He was talking shit to teachers and being disrespectful. We were going to suspend him, but I couldn't get a hold of his parents so that we could send him home. Then he started crying and saying that he wanted to talk to me. Since we were only testing right now I went into one of the therapist's room and talked to him while she took over the testing for me.

His dad has cancer. And his family is poor and won't be able to pay for any serious treatment. He's melting down and wants to say fuck it all to everything. 99.99% of the time that a kid is acting out it's because he is unhappy and there is something going. Kids don't want to be assholes and angry it's just that they don't know how to deal with their emotions. They haven't lived long enough to gain the discipline and self-awareness to control themselves. What a shitty break. His reaction is understandable, though not acceptable. It ain't right to take your shit out on others.

But he doesn't have the luxury of being able to melt down and fall apart. I told him that the last thing that his dad needs is to have to come up to the school and deal with his shit. Fuck it all is how children act. Unfortunately, he has to step up to the plate and start acting like a man. He needs to be strong for his family. Everyone is having to deal with this issue. Mom and sister don't need to have to see him fall apart while the dad is dying. He is forced to grow up faster than he wants to. I'm sad for him and sad for his family.

This situation once again highlights the problems with the American medical system. Truthfully, it's not a system. If you don't have the money, you don't have the care. And good hardworking people that are scraping by get left behind. It is shameful and disgraceful. In the richest country in the world, everyone should be taken care of. It's not like there isn't enough to go around.
No one should have to feel hopeless because they don't know how they are going to take care of their family members. It's hard enough to have to deal with cancer, you shouldn't have to deal with if you'll be able to pay for the treatment for cancer.