How can it be to send your children off to school in the morning and never see them alive again? School should be a place where children learn, have fun, get bored, play truant from even, but are safe through it all.
There have been more than two dozen school shootings in the U.S. since the start of the school year - that's August 2006. (ABC News)
I know it's not solely an American phenomenon but with three incidents in this week alone, parents must be looking at their schools and wondering where is safe. It's not as if the schools involved are in tough inner city ghettos where you could imagine gang rivalry or such. This last one is in an Amish school, a Christian stronghold shut away from modern life.
On Radio 4 they had an interview with a local man - not one of the Amish community but a Memonite. He was asked if it was time for America to reconsider their gun laws - Pennsylvania has liberal gun laws apparently - and he said, 'No, guns don't kill people; people kill people. He could have gone in there with a hammer.'
I know. But ...
May God wrap his arms around each and every one of that community and reassure them of his love and presence. May his unchanging love be their strength in the face of horror. And may there be freedom to grieve in all its forms.
6 comments:
I know I sure wonder and worry about whether or not my kids (ages 8 & 11) are safe in school. We live in a nice area, considered very safe, but since 9/11 "lockdown drills" have become regular events. The children are taught what to do if a specific color code is issued. Sometimes they are required to close all curtains (so an intruder can't see which rooms are occupied), lock the classroom door, and huddle silently together in a specific corner of the room. School administrators take this seriously; there's no joking around. I've talked to my son about this, and he was quick to remind me about the "duck and cover" drills of my childhood. The problem is that the need for school lockdown seems far more real to me than the Russian nuclear warheads we were worried ahout. I join you in praying for our Amish community.
It is just horrendous that there has to be a drill. What sort of world are we creating?
The whole thing is sickening. These were just little girls - 6, 8, 9, 13! Babies! Last week's vengence against the girls in the Colorado high school is sickening, as well. I couldn't bear to follow that one.
I have no answer - getting rid of the guns is the first step, but that's not going to happen.
School was always a safe place for us. Even with duck-and-cover, we figured we'd have time to get to a shelter of some kind. (OK, we were kidding ourselves, but still - )
Now these guys just walk into school - even with all the safety measures - and start gunning.
What sort of world indeed, Liz. Sad.
These incidents are horrible, and it's horrible that children have to have drills in how to protect themselves. We had the "duck and cover" drills in school when I was a kid, too (I know, who we were kidding?). I went all the way through school without ever seeing a metal detector or security guard patrolling the halls. The worst violence that ever occurred was the occasional fistfight among the boys. I don't know how we got to this place. It's a horrendous situation. I don't know what the answer is, but we as a society need to start figuring it out.
To target any schoolchildren is sick, but teenage girls in CO and now little Amish girls in PA is too twisted to even contemplate.
Liz, last night we received a taped-message phone call from the school superintendent meant to reassure parents that our children are safe in school. I wish you could hear it. It started, "In light of the recent national school violence..." and went on to say how our school district is prepared and that there will be a full-scale emergency drill at the local high school on Thursday 10/5. We didn't answer the phone because we were busy with the kids, so it went onto the answering machine. Unfortunately, that meant that 11-year-old son got to hear it. It didn't reassure him; he went white. I'm thinking about putting it on at my place. Our eight-year-old daughter is, thankfully, still unaware of any of these recent events (we don't allow them to watch the news yet).
I will always believe that most people are good.
I've recently read in the newspaper that the Amish community are offering meesages of comfort and forgiveness to the man and his family. They said they do not believe in anger, only forgiveness. I can only say how much I respect this, and am quietly amazed by it. Maybe we have something to learn from these people, who have been through (and indeed are still going through) such a traumatic time and yet can only find forgiveness in their hearts.
I once heard a quote "Guns don't kill people, people kill people...I think the gun helps". Ban them, ban them, ban them!
Sorry, bit of a rant!
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