Last week our school practiced the “Lockdown” drill. Kids were scared. I was scared. Everyone in the building hated that we had to do it.
But everyone pretended that knowing how to lock the door and turn off the lights might magically keep us safe if the worst ever happened.
It wouldn’t it. Nothing we could do could keep us safe if the worst happened. And we all know that.
I wrote this post two years ago today, when I got home from school after learning about Sandy Hook. I’m reposting it today because every single word of it is still true, and still what I feel.
We can’t lock our children in classrooms to keep them safe. We can’t legislate sanity or cure mental illness. We can’t eliminate anger and bitterness and obsessive hatred. There is really only one logical answer, and no one wants to admit it.
Please read the words of a sad, angry, very frightened teacher, written through tears on the night of the Newtown massacre.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
Moms: I must have missed your original post on Sandy Hook because I don’t remember it. I read it today and read all the comments. It is very chilling to realize that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING changed, except the NRA and gun lobby became more entrenched and gun sales sky-rocketed. I just knew the deaths of those children would finally be the catalyst that we needed to open our eyes as a country to change our gun laws. Alas, I fear this battle has been permanently lost.
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NOT lost, Eleanor, not lost!
For the love of our children, our students, our friends, our future and present grandchildren, we can’t admit defeat. We need to keep up the noise, keep up the posts. You have a voice that is heard by a lot more people than mine: we can’t give up this battle. We need to go for the guns, we do!
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No, Moms, I won’t give up, but it sure is discouraging. This was one of the things I was thinking about when I wrote my Christmas post. Is anybody out there? Is anybody listening? It sure seems as if the “bad guys” are getting away with murder. But I will never, ever give up praying, hoping, and trying. Sigh.
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Hard to believe, isn’t it? Hard to believe that this was two years ago. Hard to believe it happened at all. Hardest of all to believe that still nothing has been done. Except that the NRA has gotten stronger. Yeah, that’s a good thing. Right? I mean, what could possibly be wrong with MORE guns?
(Moms, I know you know I am being sarcastic. Others might not.)
You may know that I have family who lived in/near Sandy Hook for decades. My niece and her two brothers went to Sandy Hook Elementary School. But even there it is debated. There are two signs I’ve seen: We are Sandy Hook and We Choose Love.
The other one made my blood boil: We are Newtown and We Choose Freedom. I saw it on a bumper sticker as I drove through on the highway in October. I am still seething about it and the stupidity that it represents. The stupidity that, of course, prevails.
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But I choose Freedom, too! I choose the Freedom to teach without fear that we’ll be shot. I choose the Freedom to be a teacher, not a soldier. I support the Freedom to learn and grow without having to learn how to respond to a gunman………
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Yes, if only that’s what they meant … The gunrack on the back made me pretty sure their interpretation and ours was, ummmm, different.
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“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” -Edmund Burke
I still remember the rage I felt when I heard about Sandy Hook on the radio; I was out on my own, doing some Christmas shopping shortly after dropping my own 3rd grader at the time off at school. I’ve been even more outraged that absolutely nothing has changed in spite of that horrific day 2 years ago. If that didn’t change gun control laws, I don’t know what will.
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We will, but only if we keep making noise.
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