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hmmm....the indifference and upping the tolerance level for this style of societal demise is concerning.
Disassociating isn't going to change the reality.
A friend of mine was never the same after she volunteered at the Oklahoma Bombing site. It affected her dearly...Perhaps in a good way as she became more attune to the family she so took for granted. She also became bitter though...because folks "moved" on as if it was ...hoo hum....just another day.
hmmm....the indifference and upping the tolerance level for this style of societal demise is concerning.
Disassociating isn't going to change the reality.
A friend of mine was never the same after she volunteered at the Oklahoma Bombing site. It affected her dearly...Perhaps in a good way as she became more attune to the family she so took for granted. She also became bitter though...because folks "moved" on as if it was ...hoo hum....just another day.
Well to be fair, 9/11 kind of took over that in the national consciousness but even that never felt real. I cried at the OKC bombing but sat there like a rock on 9/11 thinking that it felt like watching a horrible disaster movie. Last week I tried to ignore it but couldn't, and suddenly I'm galvanized as so many other people are starting to be b/c I think some folks are starting to wake up and realize that if we keep going the way we are, we're not going to have much left to be proud of. So the vitriol expressed in the replies to my facebook post this week I assume are people feeling threatened by the possible loss of "rights." That and the fact that the things our economy depends on the most are what's taking us down. I mean, if the rest of the countries in the world are going to have strict gun control laws, where else are they going to sell them? Yep, the good ole' USA! So, my indifference is beginning to turn to anger and I can't help but think that's a healthier reaction to all this. There's a rally coming up in St. Louis and I'm going to go to it--my first ever rally.
On Valentines Day, my daughter (16) wanted to have a boy come over. She asked me if she could ditch study hall (last class that day) and have me pick her up early so she could come home and get ready. She attends a magnet school a few miles south of here. "Here" is about five miles from Stoneman Douglas.
As we drove up the Sawgrass Expressway, we spotted an undercover cop with lights on going at a very high rate of speed past us. Two minutes later, three more passed us, moving almost bumper to bumper at 80+ mph. We exchanged glances and a "what the heck? Bank robbery maybe?" Then in my rearview mirror I see one on my left, and four more, again in bumper to bumper formation, all traveling with lights on at 80+.
A feeling that something really terrible was happening crept over me. I handed her my purse and told her to pull out my phone and get on my Twitter feed looking for messages from BSO (Broward Sheriff's). She read back "Active shooter at MSD, avoid area." I assured her we would be getting off the highway before passing the school.
When we exited, we passed emergency vehicle after vehicle coming towards us and turning onto the road where the school is. Then I saw that they weren't all Coral Springs PD, they were coming from other jurisdictions miles away. At the intersection, where they were turning, my daughter asked, "the school is up there isn't it?" I told her it was. She asked "how far?" and I tell her it's about 2 and half miles. We were silent the rest of the way home. Then we got there and watched it live on every station, local and national.
The next day, I gave her the option of going to school or not. She wanted to, so she could be with friends. Everyone wore black. During her second period class (90 minutes) the teacher spent the entire class talking about shooter safety, going through the various lock down codes and procedures. They hadn't gotten around to it all year, but hey, it's the day after a mass shooting so let's do it now while the kids are still scared and sad. At lunch, kids hugged and cried. My daughter called me to come get her because she couldn't handle any more.
She came home and got in bed. The next morning she said that all night long threats had been flying on social media, "time for round two," "Plantation is next," "West Broward High is next..." She had watched the videos from kids taken inside the building as it happened. She had seen the bodies. We decided she should stay home. She stayed in bed until night, when I forced her to get up and go out with us to eat.
Monday she returned to school. Wednesday she participated in a walk-out. She is still pretty shaky. She seems fine but little challenges can bring her to tears. She was having an issue with something else at school and suddenly brought up changing schools or homeschooling. Today she is on an all-day field trip to the Everglades. Hopefully some time spent outdoors with friends will give her a break from the relentless sorrow that this community feels.
It is very hard to compartmentalize this tragedy; it's everywhere. I went the other day to pick up a prescription and a group of very grim teenage girls all dressed up in black walked in as I left the drugstore. I remembered one of the funerals was that afternoon...or maybe they went to the one this morning...or both. There have been so many... At the gym, just down the road from MSD, there has been a noticeable absence of teenage and parentage members. This week has mostly been twenty-something guys and older people. The families are busy dealing with this. Restaurants are not as busy as usual, and you do see small groups of parents and teens, obviously coming from a funeral, viewing or vigil, subdued and somber.
I don't think we knew any of the victims, but you don't have to look far for a connection. My daughter away at FSU, her roommate was one of the victim's neighbors. They grew up together. My husband's friend is close to one of the survivor's families. And me, I realized when they showed the diagrams of the school that the classrooms were the ones where I sat through my older daughter's county-wide solo and ensemble evaluations, the downstairs hallway was where we nervously waited for her turn and provided moral support to her friends, and the grassy area just outside the door, that's where they gathered together for pictures with their instruments and big smiles, relieved that it was over and they had done well. Such a happy day.
This year was supposed to be there as well, just this last weekend. The sad thing is that, if you had told me back then that three years later this event would be cancelled because a massacre will occur where you are standing right now, I don't think I would have doubted you. Not that there is anything special about it that makes it more likely there, just that there are no more safe places.
Yes, thank you for sharing. Posting this gives us a very real connection to the shooting and involves us with it directly. It also helps to knock me out of my disgust and anger and push me into caring again. I owe you for that one.
A school shooting effects the whole country and will linger in the minds for multiple generations. All those kids are our next leaders and don't know a childhood without violence and war in the headlines.
Yes, thank you for sharing, Dragonmam. When I heard it on the radio driving home after picking up my daughter from school in Coral Springs, I just remember thinking "No, no, no. Not Stoneman. Not Parkland." There truly is nowhere safe.
FWIW, I friended David Hogg on Facebook and wrote him a little note of support. It is shocking, some of the vicious remarks people have posted to his page, including things like "f--- you, I'm not going to let some high school kid tell me what kind of gun I can have."
FWIW, I friended David Hogg on Facebook and wrote him a little note of support. It is shocking, some of the vicious remarks people have posted to his page, including things like "f--- you, I'm not going to let some high school kid tell me what kind of gun I can have."
Unbelievable.
To many Americans, their guns are their religion. They take it that seriously. It's mind-boggling.
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