Today in the schools of Broward County Florida they practiced for the day when an "active killer" comes on campus. The kids weren't there, thank God, but the teachers and staff of the schools had a mandatory training day. This was not like any day most any of these schools had ever experienced. The exception was Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Today in MSD and all the schools in the county the sound of shots rang out in all the hallways. I'm sure there were many teachers very distressed and saddened with what went on. Did they feel safer at the end of this day or just even more fearful of danger.
Fear is the Devil's weapon. I really don't mean this in religious terms - it's more metaphorical. Fear drives out peace and happiness. Fear restricts the behavior of people. Fear is debilitating. Nothing good EVER comes out of FEAR.
Now those conducting these exercises will likely respond by saying if people are prepared, they won't need to fear. That is true for many things. Learning how to be a good driver will rightfully reduce one's fear about driving. Learning how to swim will help get rid of a fear of the water. But what about a situation where the training will really do nothing to come close to guaranteeing one's safety? Running and hiding is the likely reaction of anyone put in an "active killer" situation - you don't need a class to teach you this. What about MSD in Parkland - they even had some "trained" personnel with a weapon on site and it apparently had little effect on the outcome. Do we really think more guns are the answer? Do we really want our teachers armed and dangerous ready to go out and hunt down and kill some active shooter in their school? And what about when one of the well-intentioned armed teachers makes a mistake? Would a lot of extra guns in a school lead to more or less trouble?
Having more trained professionals in the schools would be fine. They could be a reassuring element in a school. Each community has its own Police force. People whose profession it is to "protect and serve". If we have reached a point where we have so little confidence in the inherent goodness of our communities that we need to be guarded then we need that to be the job of the professionals. NOT those individuals whose profession it is to teach our children. Teaching is their job. Anything like today's "active killer" training that makes them afraid about doing there job is the Devil at work. Why is that? Because the end result of today's training will be more doubt and fear - it will not be confidence of being safe.
I think of today's exercises much like when in Grade School many years ago we got under our desks to be safe in case of nuclear attack. Would it have done any good? NO, but it sure gave a bunch of little kids nightmares. So again I say it is the work of the Devil - and you can take it from a religious point of view it you like because it is letting FEAR undermine FAITH. Have we lost all our faith in this country? Do we want to promote a loss of faith in living in a wonderful, opportunity filled world and instead allow fear to rule?
It really is up to us. How we respond to a bad situation is under our control. Will we ever eliminate all bad things? NO and it does not really matter how many armed teachers we have - that will just create a chain reaction of feeling and beliefs that we really don't want. Whether it is a terrorist or an active killer, their mission is to sow the seeds of fear and pain. If we give in to them and let fear be in charge instead of faith in who we are as a society, then they will have won.
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