You are correct that a few words here typically are poor indicators of how any of us are inside.
When I was growing up, my mom and dad both worked but we didn’t have much money. I was given no choice about my haircuts, when my parents decided it had gotten too long they dropped me off at the “barber school”. The directions from my dad to the student barbers were very simple; “cut it short” so we wouldn’t have to come back for a long time, and “do it fast” so I won’t have to wait when I get back from my other errands. As long as what I wanted fit these two requirements everyone was happy. Strangely all of my haircuts looked about the same no matter what I thought that I wanted. But, within a few minutes after the deed was done I went back to not caring about what my hair looked like.
I like many others here have both children and grandchildren. Growing up each occasionally perceived even trivial matters to be “soul crushing” injustices. But despite this we all continued to love each other and none seem to have any debilitating psychological scars from not always getting what they wanted. I am pretty sure that in the long run little Adam won’t be traumatized very much by the decision of his mean and nasty principal.