It hasn’t been the easiest of weeks for Pacelli High School Principal Norm Blaser.

Monday, February 12, 2001

It hasn’t been the easiest of weeks for Pacelli High School Principal Norm Blaser. He wouldn’t let you in on that secret even if you asked, however.

You see, Norm Blaser is one of those rare individuals in this world who can find a silver lining in just about anything.

It had been awhile since Norm and I had visited, so I had forgotten that important quality of the man when he arrived in my office Monday morning.

Most people in Norm’s shoes probably would have greeted me with a litany of the wrongs done to him and his fine institution by our newspaper – even though there was nothing wrong with this newspaper’s coverage about the unfortunate stabbing incident in our community last Friday – but not Norm.

Visibly disturbed by the events that had propelled Pacelli into a story it never asked for, Norm made sure I understood where he was coming from immediately.

"There’s nothing wrong with what you had in the paper," he said. "In fact, your reporters, editors and photographers did a good job."

That "good job" was to report and cover the events that unfolded near Pacelli High School shortly after classes dismissed on Friday. What occurred was the stabbing of a 17-year-old male by another 17-year-old male after a verbal argument escalated into a physical confrontation. Neither the victim, the suspect nor others involved in the argument reportedly had a connection to Pacelli High School, until this incident.

Now, unfortunately for Pacelli High School, its students and Norm, fate had brought them all together.

The location of the fight was near Pacelli High School, making the school the geographic landmark most identifiable for first law enforcement officers and later our readers.

The actions of the suspect, the victim and others in the fight landed Pacelli students in the mix and eventually Norm.

"You understand how this looks for the school," Norm asked. "I want to turn this into something positive for the school."

And so began a discussion regarding the involvement of Pacelli’s students in this unfortunate incident.

"Yes, Pacelli students were involved," Norm said. "Here’s how…"

Pacelli students witnessing Friday’s stabbing were the ones who first called law enforcement officials and provided police with the car and license description.

Pacelli students then administered first aid to the victim until help arrived. In fact, students stayed with the victim until help arrived and then later watched from afar in one only can guess a state of shock.

These high school students didn’t ask to witness a violent crime last Friday, but they did and then responded in a manner that should make all of us proud. They behaved as citizens and Christians should.

And in turn, the students of Pacelli High School can be proud of the man who leads them, because he too behaved as a citizen and a Christian should.

Norm Blaser thought about how he could make a bad situation better and solicited help, rather than rehash perhaps differences of opinion.

Norm found his silver lining and we’re glad to have helped him tell the world what it was.

Neal Ronquist’s column appears Sundays. E-mail him at neal.ronquist@austindailyherald.com