The fact is that teachers are drawn to the profession by their desire to make a difference in the world and in the lives of young people. They are frequently in the position of having to shelter children and their feelings from the challenges of the world outside that in ways large and small is failing them and falling apart. Children come to school hungry, angry, hurt, confused, and teachers have been tasked with either fixing those things or finding some way to get the lessons through despite the obstacles to learning that the world at large presents. Are we going to add to that a responsibility to bear arms? And to be trained in their use? It is difficult enough to get all teachers trained in CPR.
The proposal that teachers be armed is incredibly naive. Or should I say stupid. Or shall I say evil. Even well-trained police officers are often incapable of performing adequately on the job. They have been known to accidentally kill innocent folks.
I am disturbed by how the shooter in Parkland has been treated in the press and by the politicians in their comments. The call him a monster. They distance themselves from him without acknowledging that he's a monster of their own making. The shooter was a young man who fell through cracks. The cracks were held open wide for him to fall through and for others to suffer in consequence. And so how are those cracks held open so wide? They are held open by our government's refusal to provide a basic safety net of mental health care, and further by the refusal of corporations to pay a living wage, and by our refusal to acknowledge that we all, even the most high and mighty among us, have a responsibility to care for one another.
One thing is for certain. We have a society in which many people think it is OK to care for our own children and not care one whit for others. The truth is, however, that all children are our children. As difficult as it may seem for some to adjust to the fact, we must circle them all up in our arms and care for them all as if they are our own, for in truth they are. That is our responsibility and the gift of being human.
We must also acknowledge that the government of a caring people is to be used as an instrument of that caring.
Yesterday my upper elementary school students wanted to make troll dolls just as had been proposed for my lower elementary kids. Children can be left to savor the innocent joy of their childhoods. Part of the parental challenge is to shelter them for that.
Today I'll help play host to the Stateline Woodturner's meeting in the ESSA wood shop.
Make, fix and create.
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