Woke
up this morning in a panic from two different nightmares, both equally terrifying—there was an active shooter in my school.
I hear people say it’s not a gun problem; it’s a heart problem. I’d personally like to invite those people into my classroom during the first week of school where you have to explain to five-year-old BABIES what we’re going to do if a bad guy ever comes into our school. And after you finish explaining it in a way that makes them aware of the danger, but doesn’t scare them to the point of mass hysteria, you practice what you’d do. Some of them cry. Some giggle because they don’t truly understand the gravity of what we’re practicing for. Some of them cling to you, and others go into full meltdown mode. But we have to be prepared, right!?! Because this is just a part of our new “normal.”
Last year at our fifth graders end of the year celebration, they were cleaning up and I guess someone told them it was okay to start popping balloons. Well, from my classroom it didn’t sound like balloons popping but gunshots. The look on my kids face was pure fear. I scanned the hallway and could quickly see down to the cafeteria that it was balloons and not gunfire. However, my hands were shaking for the rest of the day. It just felt too real. I went home and sobbed that night, thankful that it was in fact just balloons, but so angry that the fear of my babies and I being murdered is a part of my every day life.
Fast forward to Valentines Day 2018. 17 innocent people lost their lives in Parkland, FL in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. As a teacher your heart just hurts in a different way. Because you know all too well it could have been you, it could have been your school, with your co-workers, and your kiddos. Sandy Hook was a very sobering wake up call that no school is safe, that evil doesn’t care if your kids are just six years old.
I have friends who are on both sides of the gun control debate. Some say it’s their right to bear arms, while others say we need stricter gun laws. Here’s the thing, I used to be a person who said, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” That it’s a hate issue, not a gun issue. And.I.was.dead.wrong.
It’s a heart issue for sure. Let me just go ahead and acknowledge that. That outside of Christ, we are all evil. BUT it’s also a very real gun issue.
Many have cried it’s a discipline issue. It’s a parenting issue. Maybe, but it’s also a GUN ISSUE.
Had the shooter been armed with a knife and not a semi automatic weapon I dare say the death toll and the carnage would have been much lower. Again, I’ll hear the argument that the gun didn’t kill the innocent, but the shooter did. Sure, he pulled the trigger, but the bullets entered the bodies of 17 individuals last Wednesday, resulting in their death. The bullets from that gun absolutely killed them.
I’m honestly not hear to argue points, because I know everyone has their opinions on this, I’m just here to share my heart, as an educator.
Have you ever watched your kids play at recess and wonder which way you would send them running if gunfire rang out?
I hear people say it’s not a gun problem; it’s a heart problem. I’d personally like to invite those people into my classroom during the first week of school where you have to explain to five-year-old BABIES what we’re going to do if a bad guy ever comes into our school. And after you finish explaining it in a way that makes them aware of the danger, but doesn’t scare them to the point of mass hysteria, you practice what you’d do. Some of them cry. Some giggle because they don’t truly understand the gravity of what we’re practicing for. Some of them cling to you, and others go into full meltdown mode. But we have to be prepared, right!?! Because this is just a part of our new “normal.”
Last year at our fifth graders end of the year celebration, they were cleaning up and I guess someone told them it was okay to start popping balloons. Well, from my classroom it didn’t sound like balloons popping but gunshots. The look on my kids face was pure fear. I scanned the hallway and could quickly see down to the cafeteria that it was balloons and not gunfire. However, my hands were shaking for the rest of the day. It just felt too real. I went home and sobbed that night, thankful that it was in fact just balloons, but so angry that the fear of my babies and I being murdered is a part of my every day life.
Fast forward to Valentines Day 2018. 17 innocent people lost their lives in Parkland, FL in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. As a teacher your heart just hurts in a different way. Because you know all too well it could have been you, it could have been your school, with your co-workers, and your kiddos. Sandy Hook was a very sobering wake up call that no school is safe, that evil doesn’t care if your kids are just six years old.
I have friends who are on both sides of the gun control debate. Some say it’s their right to bear arms, while others say we need stricter gun laws. Here’s the thing, I used to be a person who said, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” That it’s a hate issue, not a gun issue. And.I.was.dead.wrong.
It’s a heart issue for sure. Let me just go ahead and acknowledge that. That outside of Christ, we are all evil. BUT it’s also a very real gun issue.
Many have cried it’s a discipline issue. It’s a parenting issue. Maybe, but it’s also a GUN ISSUE.
Had the shooter been armed with a knife and not a semi automatic weapon I dare say the death toll and the carnage would have been much lower. Again, I’ll hear the argument that the gun didn’t kill the innocent, but the shooter did. Sure, he pulled the trigger, but the bullets entered the bodies of 17 individuals last Wednesday, resulting in their death. The bullets from that gun absolutely killed them.
I’m honestly not hear to argue points, because I know everyone has their opinions on this, I’m just here to share my heart, as an educator.
Have you ever watched your kids play at recess and wonder which way you would send them running if gunfire rang out?
Have you ever thought about how quickly you could push different pieces of furniture in front of a door to barricade it to maybe help save your life and the lives of your 18 students?
Have you ever thought about how you’re going to get Kindergartners not to cry if God forbid someday you have to hide them and keep them quiet because your life literally depends on it?
Have you ever just laid in bed and cried at night thinking about what life would be like for the people you leave behind?
Have you ever imagined the pure terror your loved ones would experience when they get word that something happened at YOUR school and they call your phone over and over, but no one ever picks up?
I have. And we have to do better.
We have to do better for our kids. We are failing them by allowing them to grow up in a world where it is normal for them to be scared to go to school because they could get shot. I don’t know how anyone could think that’s okay.
We have to do better for our teachers. Undoubtedly, any of them would lay their life down for their students, but they shouldn’t have to. Teachers shouldn’t have to wonder if they’re going to make it home at night. Their families shouldn’t have to worry that when they walk into their classroom each morning, they might not walk back out.
It’s NOT normal. It’s NOT okay. And we CAN do better. We HAVE to do better, lives literally depend on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment