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the world we are creating

the High School is next door to Emrie's Elementary.   There was a Threat.   What is referred to as a Third Party Threat.

Someone told someone something who then told someone at the school.   Resulting in what is referred to as a

soft lockdown

a soft

lock down.

all doors locked.   everyone   in   place.     The players identified.   The threat considered neutralized and known,  i don't know the terminology for that,     however the doors remained locked for the day.   

the kids in kindergarden,   are Heavy into  Jump Rope.    Emrie,   Very Much.  That  was her  response to it all.   Annoyance at no OutSide.   Blessed Ms. Johnson.  oh,   Blessed Ms.  Johnson.   and oh a Thousand Times repeat, repeat

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13 responses to “the world we are creating”

  1. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Oh Grace, this makes my heart so sad.

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  2. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    this is who we are.
    and i just sat here. Knowing. power less.

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i don’t know how to be. How to live this life.

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    soft. so that opens the Other thing….Hard?
    what is a Hard lockdown? She would have been in a
    closet?
    under a table?
    the table where she draws pictures and practices her letters?
    what does Ms. Johnson tell them then…in the case of a
    Hard
    lockdown?
    my Emrie. my Emrie.

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  5. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    we are creating this world.

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    it is not
    natural

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  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    This was not supposed to be on the “curriculum, doors locked, having to stay indoors. It seems to me that Ms Johnson handled the situation in a way that did not give off fear so instead of Emrie being frightened, she could be annoyed that she could not jump rope but what about the next time, when soft becomes hard and duck and hide is not a game…
    Both of my grand children, teenagers, graduating from 8th grade this June, entering high school, have had threats against their schools. In both instances, these threats have been on social media and were reported to the school heads and authorities. My granddaughter attends a posh private school and my grandson attends a 6th grade through 12th grade public charter school. I put this here to say that NO ONE IS IMMUNE from the reality of school threats and shootings. What does this tell our children about the world we live in? How do parents grapple with this and also, how do we grandparents?
    Yes mi querida grace, this is not natural but life these past few years has become unknowable…when next you see Emrie, give her a gentle hug from me, tell her that a friend of yours, who loves to dance, just needed to hug her.

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  8. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    No, it is not natural and remains so tough to absorb.
    I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve tried to problem solve, prepare for the ‘what if’ of ‘someday’.
    12 babies in a room of large windows, sliding doors…nowhere to hide, no way to hush the babies. My classroom is the first one over the ‘bridge’ from the administration/entrance building.
    Blessings to Ms. Johnson and all of the teachers out there doing their very best in an unthinkable world.
    (((hugs))) to you and to dear Emrie. 💕

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  9. Joanne in Maine Avatar
    Joanne in Maine

    I am reminded of my early years in a very big black brick school from another century .
    Lined up in the halls doing the duck and cover incase Russia dropped a bomb.
    and then Polio. And then Polio yet again…… We had our own “lock downs”.

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  10. Deb G Avatar
    Deb G

    We don’t use the terminology but yes, that’s what it means…under the table, taking shelter.

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  11. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    brave heart (((Grace)))

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  12. Faith Avatar
    Faith

    Thinking what Joanne in Maine said… how we had those regular air raid drills and they seemed so normal to us. Only to discover years later how much they had really affected me subconsciously. And we grew up with war at dinnertime ’cause my Dad always watched the news at dinnertime. This also seemed “normal” to us. I thought maybe before WWI kids had truly normal lives, but then thought what a school day might have been like during the Civil War or the Revolution if one was lucky enough to be able to go to school. And even without war, people died too easily of things we either don’t know about today or consider relatively trivial.
    And none of this makes it any easier to see what kind of world we are leaving to our grandchildren. Sometimes it seems to me that nothing has actually changed. It just been shuffled and renamed. (ie.: a child may be less likely to die of disease, but now is more likely to die by gunshot) And that’s what makes it worse–nothing has really changed. Nothing is any better, overall. And OMG! that is so depressing. And I’m an optimist! (Normally, anyway.)
    [Re. the previous post: if it’s something you enjoy doing, that’s reason enough. Joy can be the end “product.” And re. everything above, it’s a very vitally important product.]

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  13. Liz A Avatar
    Liz A

    Columbine marked the beginning for me … the sense of imminent danger every time I walked into the high school library that I worked at for two years … intensified in 2001 after 9/11 and the sniper in Virginia who was targeting people at gas stations … feeling like there was a target on my back
    I used to smile and wave an open-handed “hello” in my rear view mirror when I was being tailgated … it almost always worked to raise the other driver’s awareness that they were too close … now that feels too dangerous to risk … and I used to walk the neighborhood trails at our Hill Country house until there were some minor break-ins and folks started posting that they had their guns at the ready … choosing to no longer walk lest I be mistaken for an intruder
    and of course there were the periodic “intruder” drills when I taught at the elementary school … I haven’t had the heart to ask my grandkids about the drills they undergo these days … having no clue what I could possibly say that would make any of it any better … even as I remember our own “duck and cover” drills during my own elementary school years … I checked out a book at the library when I was in middle school that suggested creating a bomb shelter … my mom’s not-so-reassuring answer was “if they drop the bomb, I don’t want to survive it”
    this is our world … the fear that keeps on ratcheting up as the conservatives stoke the furnaces of resentment … the climate spinning out of control … the overarching sense of impending doom
    and yet, here I sit, connected to the world through a laptop and an invisible network, looking out on the back yard where there are purple sages and yellow daisies, a tiny anole perched on the weather vane puffing out his pink throat, birdsong and sunshine, blue sky and tomatoes on the vine … privileged to want for nothing, grateful for moments of peace and community

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