When I first heard Tuesday afternoon about the shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas, I was relieved. I read the initial reports and it seemed that only 2 people, a student and a teacher, had died, while an additional 12 had merely been injured. Well, that’s not too bad, I thought. Could have been worse, right?
Almost immediately after I arrived at that conclusion, I was appalled. When did the deaths of two people, including a child, become “not too bad?” Had I really become that desensitized to school shootings?
As the story developed, I learned the number of deaths originally provided was approximately a tenth of the actual total. I became increasingly distressed and angry. Will it ever stop? Why is this country more committed to gun ownership than it is to protecting the lives of residents, to the lives of children?
When did training drills instructing children how and where to hide during active shooter situations become the answer to school shootings rather than common sense gun laws?
I watched some of the Texas governor’s press conference on Wednesday. He’s of the belief that, since “long guns” have been legal for about 60 years in his fine state and there have been few incidents related to these particular weapons, the problem which must be addressed is a mental health crisis.
The issue isn’t guns. It’s healthcare, something this governor, along with a number of others, is currently working to restrict and eliminate – at least when it comes to women. I guess he hasn’t read this recently published study illustrating a correlation between lack of access to reproductive health care, specifically abortion, and mental health well being.
It probably doesn’t really matter anyway, right? It isn’t as if it’s women perpetrating these gun massacres.
Tuesday night, I opened a bottle of wine that was older than every single one of the children murdered in their classroom, and wondered how the families of the 21 people killed were going to make it through the night ,and each of the subsequent ones they’ll face, without their loved one.
Thursday, I walked down the hallway in my school past a display of framed pictures of student selected Heroes. People like John Lewis, Harvey Milk and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who have come to be regarded as exceptional Americans who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Americans. We honor them and the contributions they made to our country.
At the end of the hall I saw a group of children who, for just a moment, I could imagine in a conga line of terror, extended arms touching the shoulders of their peers, as they might flee the building in an active shooter situation.
Then I watched this video of Ted Cruz and wondered how anyone could claim American exceptionalism based upon their belief that this country is “the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth.”
I didn’t sign up for this.
I’m an educator, not a security guard.
This country’s obsession with guns is an epidemic that must be addressed. Now.
The Parkland survivors and the organization which they founded, March for Our Lives, is planning an event in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 11th. I imagine there will be many other marches, although probably not as many marches as there have been lives lost in schools in this country, on that same date. Hopefully, there will be opportunities locally to participate and send a message that we, as a country, care more about human lives than we do about guns.
I intend to be there. Will you?
