ROUND 12: A COMPLICATED PROCESS INSIDE A FAMILY
By Mauricio Sulaimán – Son of José Sulaimán – President of the WBC
This is the last column I will be writing in 2021, a year that will remain in the memory of humanity as one of the most challenging, which made us change and modify our way of living, one that has brought us hope to move forward and brought guidance and knowledge to adjust to everything related to our way of interacting with others, with our loved ones and with our own selves.
For me, it was a year full of satisfaction both on a professional and personal level, but there was an event that has touched me to the depths, and I want to share this experience with you because it is something that has affected my wife, me, and especially my youngest son.
It is a fact and a reality that derived from my work. I must travel constantly. I live with a different rhythm. I have no schedules and for the same reason, I am absent in my family routine. This is where my wife has done a wonderful job to handle everything related to our kids. Everything related to schools basically lays on her. This is how I grew up, too, with my mother at the forefront of the family routine while my father went out to conquer the world.
When the pandemic arrived and the imminent lockdown back in March 2020, a very complicated process started for everyone in the world. Nobody was prepared for such a radical change in the way of doing things. Offices closed and we all had to learn to work remotely and use technology to get on with our lives, even if it was only partially effective.
Nobody knew how long it would last, there was great uncertainty, and we were confronted with constant demands when facing complicated situations, loss of loved ones and friends, crisis in all areas, and continuous anguish.
The same thing happened in everything related to the education system. Schools had to implement unknown educational systems, implement online classes, and thus began a very complicated process for teachers and supervisors, for parents, but mainly for students.
Boys and girls taking classes through an e-device, learning a new system, with internet connectivity complications, with distractions at home, learning at the same time as the teachers, to try to save the educational process. At home, without being able to go out, without any interaction with friends, without having the normal one-day cycles, and forced to be in front of a device for long hours.
My youngest son managed to overcome complicated problems that this situation brought, as well as a deep depression. He accepted additional support from a school tutor, started boxing with his cousin, and made a wonderful change in his overall behavior. He lost over 25 pounds, he found order and discipline and dramatically improved his grades.
Finally, back to school! Life adjusted to a new opportunity to move on and resume activities that only the students knew: going to school, getting along, studying and learning how to live life anew. The enthusiasm of returning after a year of absence was wonderful.
The schools had to implement some policies related to Covid care, which was necessary and understandable.
My son is no angel. He returned to school and met a group of friends who, like him, were full of energy, and indiscipline led him to have a variety of incidents. Nothing of great consequences, simply a teenager of fourteen, restless and rebellious. He received reports, was suspended and the issue was addressed by my wife, who went to the school, held several meetings and was trying to implement the necessary steps to correct the problem, I repeat, at no time was there a major offense of consequences.
After seventeen years of being part of this school, finding for our three children this academic institution of Catholic, social and moral formation, we experienced an abrupt and highly disappointing ending directed towards our son.
The lack of sensitivity to difficult times for a suffering person, taking into account the above described and experiencing the treatment to which he has been exposed with an abuse of power and authority, we have been forced to voluntarily withdraw him from school, falling into a series of irregularities and infractions by the school on the law. Our son has been exposed by several teachers in front of other students as an example of what can happen, and has been ridiculed, pointed out and labelled.
All this happened precisely a few days before the end of the semester, days before celebrating Christmas, without having the slightest consideration to the effect that this decision of the institute will have on a young person, without considering the compassion that the Catholic religion proclaims as an elementary principle of existence.
They sent us to the streets without seeking alternatives to save their former student’s school year. The Institute simply gave up and threw in the towel, failed him, and found the easy way out. They found a child to be the culprit for their inability to operate and administer the school.
Our son leaves the school, and with him there goes a legacy of loyalty and dedication to what he once was. We go with our heads held high to seek a promising destiny for a young man who needs empathy, understanding, and guidance to face the sufferings that our youth of the present require.
We have received countless expressions of affection and solidarity from school mates and their parents, giving us security and the possibility of closing this painful chapter of our lives.
We are a united family, a family of good spirit with solid values and principles. In no way do I justify the failures of my son, and we will take the necessary measures to address each and every one of the issues that must be calmly and thoroughly discussed with him. I am extremely sorry for what happened. We will make, together as a family, the necessary adjustments to straighten the path of our son. His mistakes will be resolved and his education reinforced. We will do it with love, but firmly, and I am sure that we will form a winner of life.
It was also a shock to me. It is necessary for me myself to dedicate more time to my family, my wife and my children. This will be my main purpose for 2022.
Today’s anecdote:
Precisely during high school, in 7th grade, it was the year in which I went through an existential adolescent crisis. I stopped playing baseball with the passion that I always had, and in school I flunked several subjects. My mother was summoned to school, but as my father was in Mexico, he decided to address this matter: “Martha, give me the opportunity to address this situation.” And so it was that my father attended the meeting with the principal of the secondary school.
Returning home my father was firm and confirmed his decision to my mother. “Mauricio will not go to the summer baseball camp. I just cancelled it. He will have private lessons throughout the summer, and he will pass the extraordinary exams.” So it was, and I felt a great relief when I turned my problems around, but more so when I had done it under the supervision of my father.
