Classroom Lockdown Drill
My love.
A few weeks into this school year, my 6-year-old first grader came home and told me that they’d had a lockdown drill at school. I recoiled. A lockdown drill?
I asked him about it and he discussed it in great detail. The teachers locked the doors and cover the windows of the classroom. The kids hunkered down on the far side of the room. The principal passed through the campus, checking doors and delivering secret knocks to keep the teachers informed.
He doesn’t understand. He views it through a child’s rosy lens: yet another drill for something that he thinks is farfetched, like fires or earthquakes. He feels safe and prepared. I know enough to feel my stomach churn.
Through his explanation, I could only think of one thing: on that day, teachers and administrators were trained to take a bullet for my child.
Think about this for a moment. In addition to trying to educate 30 energetic first graders (a daunting challenge in its own right), they’re being trained to defend my child against an armed lunatic.
I think of the principal — himself a husband and father of two young kids — walking across the campus. I think of the teachers — most of them mothers — vulnerable behind the glass as they try to barricade the doors and windows. I had horrible, vivid dreams for days.
Since Friday, I’ve been watching the news about Newtown like it’s another bad dream. This can’t be real, can it? Those little faces… they’re the same age as my son. This can’t be real. It shouldn’t.
Think about this when you have your next discussion about what we should do next. Think about those tiny kids. Think about the people who would give their lives to protect them. And think about what’s most important to you.
I know what’s important to me.
Cooking
Fitness
Health