If it can happen in a quaint Amish schoolhouse,
in a county in Pennsylvania, so crime free it does not even have a police force,
it can happen anywhere.
SS4MD made a comment on my last post about these tragic shootings, and I had a similar conversation with my son as I drove him to school his morning.
He has made the transition from rural school K - 6 , population 90 something, to a villiage school, K - 9, population hovering around 300.
My good friend works in a middle school in our closest Urban centre.They have "lockdown" practice regularily, so ask my son if he has practiced it in his new school.
And we have a discussion about the latest school shootings, and the whole time we talk, my inner voice is screaming....
"What the F*** am I doing???... I am sitting here talking to my twelve year old about protecting himself from the possibility of facing a madman with a gun, while I'm driving him to the place that the cowards choose for their final hurrah."
And I sat outside his school for a while, feeling defeated.
My husband and I are good people, who come from good people.
We have raised a daughter who contributes so positively to this world.
Our son is maturing and following the values
we have chosen as the foundation for our family.
We are like so many other families in this world,
good decent people, who have to tell our children
how to save themselves from classroom bullets.
And I feel momentary defeat.
I honestly believe that the salvation of this earth will come from the women of this world.
About Me
- Hope
- I am a woman who is content with herself and her life, but believe that each day brings new possibilities and opportunities that I intend to be open to. I am an intuative person who does not always listen to herself.
12 comments:
YEs I feel the same way too sometimes hope. That this has become common place. I remember HOW SCARED I was during the FLQ Crisis, no one really explained to me what was going on. I would not stay alone ina room at school or home for weeks. I wish Someone had taken the time.
So your doing right by talking to your son about this. AND Yes it is cowardice that makes people got to a place where no one really can stand up for themsleves.
HUGS Sweetie. I have to do the same and it's sad that we have to do it at all.
Yes Woman should take over the world and MAKE MEN listen.
It's the good people that should take over the world. The one's who know right from wrong regardless of their backgrounds. The one's who teach their children morals, values and expect them to live by a code of ethics. One's who *care*
In all honesty, that is what we are missing...people *caring*. We get mad at the madman and we get scared for our children. Those madmen were made because they were not cared for or taught. They took the easy way out because it is so much harder to fight against what you were raised to be.
I feel defeated too.
I feel the exact same way hope as you do. It is so very sad when one has to wonder if sending ones child to school will be safe. It truly saddens me. I want to hug on to my sons and hide them from the world. I know that it is not possible.
It is very frightening and sad, what is happening today and it really does give me pause every morning when I send my son off to school. He attends a private Christian school, but I am not smug enough to think it couldn't happen there either...I guess I would have to say though that for me, the salvation of the earth will come through Jesus Christ. I believe the things that are happening today in the world are as a direct result of our nation getting away from God as our foundation. Just my two cents.
It is very frightening and sad, what is happening today and it really does give me pause every morning when I send my son off to school. He attends a private Christian school, but I am not smug enough to think it couldn't happen there either...I guess I would have to say though that for me, the salvation of the earth will come through Jesus Christ. I believe the things that are happening today in the world are as a direct result of our nation getting away from God as our foundation. Just my two cents.
"We are like so many other families in this world,
good decent people, who have to tell our children
how to save themselves from classroom bullets"
your post hit home with me. I had the SAME conversation with my 12 yo son....kids should NOT have to worry about awful things like that.
What kind of world have we accepted? Why are we not rising up?
I don't know.
My children's elementary school has lock down drills. One time a couple years back, a man running from police holed up in a house a couple of streets from the school and the school went into lock down. Lights off, window blinds drawn. The teacher had to set up a makeshift toilet behind her desk out of the trashcan.
I live in a good neighborhood. But it is not so removed from such things as an Amish community and yet. . .
I have not told my little ones about the latest shooting. We have discussed similar things in much detail. After all, my daughter peed into that trashcan while hiding in a dark classroom for three hours. It would give them nightmares and make them afraid of a place they should feel safe.
Gina asks why are we not rising up?
I am not entirely sure. We join neighborhood watch programs; we teach our children..but..when the evil is hiding right next door, completely unseen until the explosion what can we do?
We had to have those conversations back a few years ago when there was the whole DC Sniper incident. It was a very scary time, especially when they targeted a local school.
Very scary times indeed.
After weeks like this past week, Homeschooling does not look so bad anymore. Pretty sad that kids are often safer crossing a highway than they are in school.
It's overwhelming when we imagine the horror, but I find I have to keep reminding myself that there are so many schools where this DOESN'T happen and so many people who will be decent to our children that hopefully the good outweighs the bad.
You have brought up an interesting point, Hope. I've not talked to my children about this. I'm usually quite overprotective of them. I'm usually the one who worries about where they are and who they're with. I'm usually the one who is wary and suspicious of strangers. I'm usually the one who walks in a place and immediately begins to spot the emergency exits. I'm the party pooper dad who says "No, that's not safe."
It's probably because I work at 9-1-1 and deal with tragedy on a daily basis. But as of yet, I've not considered teaching my children about what they might do to avoid becoming a hostage in their own school. What should I teach them? Should I teach them to just run? Should I teach them the differences between cover and concealment or how to identify hard cover and soft cover....what substances will stop a handgun bullet...what substances will stop or deflect a rifle bullet? How to play dead?
Crime knows no geographical or socio-economical boundaries. It is not limited to the "big city". One is no longer safe in the suburbs or in the rural communities.
I very much understand your feeling of "defeat" at having to consider these things. It does feel like we, as a society have lost. It does feel like we have, in some way, failed. What has happened to our safe neighborhoods and schools? How fleeting is the innocence of our children that they must be exposed to concept of true evil at such a tender age?
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