So... about that part in Bonfires, where the teacher talked the kid out of wielding the gun in the classroom?
You all may not know that was inspired by a true event at the school where I used to teach, long after I left. A friend of mine who uses the same dance teacher told me the story.
The teacher talked the kid down. He gave her the gun. Her voice shook and she said, "Honey, I don't know what to do with this. I've never held a gun before."
The kid said, "Just set it down. And come outside with me, please?"
The school board wasn't going to address the issue. They wanted to talk about something else, something hot button--I forget what--and they, like the school board in the story, tried to keep all the teachers who wanted to attend in the overflow room. A teacher used her speaking time to at least let the parents see that the TEACHERS were concerned.
I knew that teacher-- we'd been friends.
I met somebody else from that district (someone I don't really consider a friend because she thinks my job is morally wrong) and she told me this teacher took an early retirement.
She just wasn't the same.
I actually have had to calm myself down all week and remind myself that while I've been gone from home, my kids haven't been in school. It's okay. They're safe. BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT AT SCHOOL.
If anybody out there thinks it's okay to arm teachers--or jokes that it's okay to arm teachers or likes to say that it's okay to arm teachers and that would solve all our problems...
If anybody out there thinks a law enforcement officer wants to run into a situation in which not only the hostile element is armed but the teachers are armed and the potentially freaked out students are armed and EVERYBODY IS FUCKING ARMED BECAUSE GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE IT'S JUST THE SOUND THEY MAKE...
If anybody out there thinks an AR-15 is just fine to have and ignores all of the returning veterans who say hey, it's a mod away from an M-4 and WHO THE FUCK NEEDS AN M-4 TO HUNT OR SHOOT SPORT...
If anybody out there conflates common sense gun control measures with OMG THE GOOBERMENT WANTS MY GUNS...
If anybody out there thinks the kids talking to congress are being snowflakes or "crisis actors" or some other bullshit meant to calm their frazzled nerves about going home to make sweet lurve to their firearms...
Fuck off.
Fuck all the way off.
Fuck off of my timeline.
Fuck off my feed.
I am terrified every day my children go to school. Every fucking day. So is 85% of America.
Your right to have a gun is NOT more important than OUR right to hope for our children's future.
It's not more important than our children's right to live.
Stop buying the bullshit.
And don't bother me with it.
I'm exhausted with it.
Being scared every day will do that to you.
4 comments:
As an Australian who lived through the Port Artur Massacre and was super proud of our government , and its stand against guns in the wrong hands I really feel for you and other sensible people in your country, who must feel like they don’t matter,since nothing seems to get any of your political people off the fence and making changes.
I had to look it up, though I remember two or three shooting sprees in Germany, I wasn't sure how many there've actually been. It seems since 1871 there have been 10 incidents that fall under that label. Bad ones were Erfurt in 2002 where 17 people died (incl. the shooter) and Winnenden in 2009, where 16 people died (also incl. the shooter). In both cases weapons were available in the household of the kids. The shooter from Erfurt was a sports club member and in case of the Winnenden shooter the father was in such a club.
So, when I hear American politicans say that more guns are the solution than I can't really see why. If these two young men I mentioned above didn't have easy access to weapons, would these shootings have happened at all?
My uncle goes hunting twice or three times a year, but I have never seen weapons in his household. I would really feel unsafe (yes unsafe, not safe!), if I knew there were weapons around the place I am currently in. I know that our cultures are different in that respect and I can accept that. But still, I really don't get why civilians need weapons. Aren't police there to protect us? They are (hopefully) at least properly trained.
I had a pretty stupid and circular argument with someone who said "Just arm the teachers, one shot and it's all over, yeah!" He could not grasp the stupid in it at all. When I mentioned that assault guns were too powerful for the private market and why couldn't a simple handgun be enough for protection, he kept saying, in a f*cking loop, "But I need it for protection!" That Jim Jeffries clip about gun control was especially vivid in my mind, but I know that most of the gun freaks around me won't get it. I hope those kids in Florida keep applying the heat to those craven politicians, though I'm cynical enough to think that it probably won't change a thing.
I’m so horrified and sad by what children and parents in the USA have to contend with. I’m a teacher in New Zealand. Schools should be the most equitable, fair and SAFE places in any society. You do such a great job, in your writing, of advocating for people who are at risk, who struggle. From my little corner at the bottom of the world, it seems like that empathy - and the outrage you express - are the only sane responses to what’s happening. Those and instituting decent gun control laws, of course. My heart goes out to you.
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