(A serious discussion) School Sytems ~heavy topic warning~
Today I come here for a more serious topic rather than my useless ranting or blog entries. Instead, I come here to talk about what went down in Florida yesterday and mention something that happened at my school as well. As you may know, a guy entered a Florida school yesterday afternoon with a gun and began shooting up the place killing at least 17 students. Some had begun to film it on their phones/snapchat whether they actually knew if it was a real threat or not and I watched one. Though it was just the sounds of what was going on around the filmer, it still gave a lot of people awareness of what was going on around them. I say this because we all see these instances happening on the news every now and then -which is actually rather sad- but we never really stop to think about being in their shoes. Sure we're all like, "oh if I was in a shooting I would..." or crack jokes like, "What are you going to do? Shoot up the school?" Because sometimes that joke isn't a joke and your plan isn't always going to work. Chances are you'll be like them; hiding.
And in today's world you're forced to fight violence with violence. Someone kills your daughter and in return you kill their son. A man steals your wallet and next you take his car keys. This work runs on revenge and karma and with the idea of violence so stuck in their brains. I must admit that I have violent tendency and feel even the smallest things as a threat but can you blame me? Can you truly blame me for the way I am? Always anxious, always aware, and almost always with a guard put up so society can't chew me up and spit me out.
Now a few hours before this occurred two boys were arrested at my school because they were caught discussing a plan about bringing guns to our school. Yes. Now, the one boy- both whom I knew- was only joking and thought Caleb (replacement name) was joking too but it turns out he wasn't. Let me explain further.
Kellin (also replacement name) was talking to Caleb during P.E and they got into a discussion about how they hated the school. Caleb was the one who brought it up saying, "Let's shoot up this place," and Kellin legitimately thought he was joking and was only a little concerned when Caleb began to rant about knowing how to make bombs and such. Well, he was arrested and Kellin was taken in for questioning. Come to find out, they found a map in Caleb's bedroom. He had a full-length plan written IN DETAIL about what would go down.
They'd have one man on the roof of the Vocational building. Another on the doctor's office across the street and he himself inside the building. He was going to wait until school let out today to start shooting everyone as they exited the school. Ironically similar to Florida (sort of) but I know for a fact it happened before that time because he'd had the things for a while. Thankfully, he was caught early otherwise... I don't want to think about the what ifs. But the vocational building was the one I'd've left to go to the school across the parking lot. It's scary to think about and since he was arrested yesterday and news about Florida came out some didn't even show up to school. Others crying because we're a small town unlike the one in Florida and our hospital can barely stitch you up. If you have anything broken they send you to the next town, if you need life support then you're flown to a nearby city and our police are only used to having to deal with the drug addicts on my side of town and the drunks. They wouldn't know how to respond, they wouldn't be able to and anything we would need for this kind of emergency.
And my town? It's safe. Relatively safe. Children can walk around without the fear of being kidnapped and you can walk down the road at day or night and not worry about being shot for stepping onto the wrong lawn or wearing the wrong colored shirt. You don't have to condition yourself to be aware of such things because to these kids, they've lived in this safe little town all their lives. I had the experience of living in bigger areas so I know better than to not carry a pocket knife with me wherever I go or to not walk alone past sunset but these kids; it's always been just that. Safe. Until now. Even though the event hadn't happened it still left our town shook especially with the news of Florida tacked onto it and I don't mean to say, "Woe is me, we almost had this too," because that's not it.
Schools should be safe. Going to school shouldn't feel like you're entering a war zone with only one rule to "kill or be killed". You shouldn't have to worry about dying when you're just trying to get an education and being shot and killed while in your classrooms should not be expected. I understand why parents pay so much to put their children in private schools because they might not be heaven, but they're better. It's not even safe to go to school. What goes down in the bathrooms? Rape, bullies attacking their victims, and some poor girl crying because the girls are cruel enough to embarrass her in front of everyone on her birthday. In the cafeteria? Food fights. Food being stolen off of your tray, and more bullies. I know, even private schools have incidents like this but my point is that humanity shouldn't be this way.
When did we get so jaded? Especially here in America where it seems half the country is turning against each other because they happen to have an unpopular opinion. Other places kill you for simply disrespecting them, being a Christian, being gay, or even a little bit different from the rest. Some of this violence is driven by fear and others hate but none of it should be happening. Each day it gets worse and worse and the threats you face in the streets. Acid attacks? Really? Sulfuric acid is being thrown onto victims in the bigger cities leaving permanent deformities that ruin the rest of your life and cause so many complications. None of this going on is funny and really shouldn't be joked about.
Yes, 9/11 happened almost seventeen years ago and I don't care if you believe it was done by our own government or not. You can't joke about that and not expect people to react. Joking about cancer? Suicide? School shootings? Rape? Guys, I'm not trying to be 'that guy' that kills all of the fun but when did telling morbid jokes become part of pop culture? These things are happening more and more every day. I may not seem to care about what goes on around me because I myself aren't a good person but at least I'm aware of what is wrong and what is right
It's scary out here and knowing this is the kind of world we have to grow up in, a world our children have to grow up in, is even worse. I don't often talk about heavy topics and I'm almost never affected as much as I am now but I felt like this needed to be said. All of it. And for America, you might be blaming the president. The government, or anyone you can for anything that happens but most of this starts with us.
You can't make a change in the world without making changes to ourselves first otherwise we'd all be a bunch of hypocrites. You're preaching about feeding the homeless and tending to the needs of third world countries but behind closed doors you own lavish furniture and when asked to donate a dollar at the cash register for a charity you say 'no thank you' and end the discussion. Everyone talks about finding God and repenting when they themselves don't truly know what they're talking about. Don't lie, don't steal, always be humble- all the rules we've ever been taught are taught by those who don't follow the rules themselves.
And in today's world you're forced to fight violence with violence. Someone kills your daughter and in return you kill their son. A man steals your wallet and next you take his car keys. This work runs on revenge and karma and with the idea of violence so stuck in their brains. I must admit that I have violent tendency and feel even the smallest things as a threat but can you blame me? Can you truly blame me for the way I am? Always anxious, always aware, and almost always with a guard put up so society can't chew me up and spit me out.
This world isn't safe. We tend to think of demons like this:
But they actually look like this:
We're more dangerous to ourselves. I hate it. My parents talk about the days where everything was okay for a while and I wish so much that I got to experience it. I am guilty of pretending that it's the way it was during my parent's day and age and events like these that open up my eyes once more but it shouldn't take a tragedy for us to make a change. It really shouldn't. And it won't change.
"Unless someone cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better, it's not"~ Doctor Suess.
"I'm not great with advice, may I offer a sarcastic comment instead?"
Comments
I agree! I have talked to my husband and we both agree on homeschooling our son! I feel it would be much safer and wouldn't have to worry!
And it kind of goes in a cycle for eternity