Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Some Thoughts on Connecticut and Oregon

I did two things in my classroom this afternoon that no teacher should ever do. I yelled the "F-word" at the top of my lungs and held it until my I strained my throat. Then, I wept. Fortunately, I found out about the school shooting in Connecticut after my students had already left. Honestly, I don't know if I would've done anything differently if they had still been there.

A thought kept coming to the surface again and again no matter how hard I tried to push it away.

Here we go again.

Can any of us truly say we're surprised? Obviously, this was worse than most of us thought it would be. No one expects so many young children to be killed by yet another coward. Or a school principal with five daughters. Or a school psychologist. I doubt we expected to see our president wipe away tears at a press conference. Maybe we should have.

I can't help thinking we were duped by what happened in Oregon in the same freaking week. How many of us thought something along the lines of, "Thank God only two were killed"? As tragic and disrespectful as that is those killed and their families, seeing how the shooting occurred at a crowded mall, it is shocking more weren't killed. But, nearly thirty more have been. It doesn't really matter that it happened on the opposite coast. Children are children, no matter where they are.

Again, we have masked, heavily armed, pathetic men, shooting random, unarmed adults and children who were in a supposedly safe place, and then taking their own lives. How many more have to die before we actually try something? Anything. I really don't care what it is, but anything is better than nothing. Right?

Isn't that how we normally solve a problem that just seems to get worse? We can debate gun control and the right to bear arms and the lack of widespread availability of mental health services over and over and over. But, don't we eventually have to do something? Otherwise, we're going to keep running through quicksand. Someday soon, we won't be able to run anymore. We're going to be in over our heads.

We all know that dangerous intersection in our respective towns, don't we? That one spot where we say again and again, "Someone's going to die if they don't put up a traffic light." Eventually, they do. But, normally someone, usually a child or a teenager, does die first.

Why do we do that? Again and again we see a problem; we see danger. Even worse, we see a possible solution. Yet, nothing is done, until tragedy occurs. Until there's outrage and horror and the blame game whips up to hurricane strength. Then something happens. The worst part is, this isn't a small town problem. This is a national problem. Which means, more of us, more of our children, have to die before something is done.

So, what is it going to take? Sadly, I think it will take far more than what happened this week in Connecticut and Oregon. Something is going to have to change within our nation's leadership. The Powers That Be have to be the ones to take charge. They have to initiate change. They have to actually lead. Which means we're in trouble.

For years, all they've done is argue and complain and moan and lie and watch and blame. And kill. No, they didn't point a gun at a child cowering in their classroom and pull the trigger. But, they didn't do anything to stop it either. Our leaders aren't stupid. Stubborn, greedy, and ineffective, perhaps. But, not stupid. They knew something like this would happen again. We all did. And yet nothing was done. Again.

Like millions of others, I read the article about today's tragedy on CNN.com. CNN asked us, "How do we stop the violence?" They want our input. Great idea. Great question. There are answers. America is chock full of smart, caring people who have great ideas for solutions. Doesn't really matter, though. Ideas are everywhere. The real question is, which of our leaders will have the guts to make the first move to make a change? But, even that isn't enough. The opposing side must do the same thing. Our leaders have to meet in the middle and actually discuss solutions for the greater good. When was the last time that happened? I don't know either.

So many of us cried today. So many of us cannot fathom what those parents in Connecticut are going through and will go through forever. So many of us want to do something. But, we can't. Not really. Our leaders can.

Maybe we should tell them we're ready. Ready to try something. Anything. We've given up rights to our personal belongings when we attend a ballgame or concert when our purses and bags are searched. We've given up our bodies to be patted and searched at airports. I think we'd be willing to give up more. All our leaders have to do is ask.

We all know, whatever it is, it won't be nearly what those souls in Oregon and Connecticut gave up. Or what we'll be giving up if something isn't done. Anything.

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