17 Innocent Souls Lost in Another School Shooting

I had planned to write a series about headaches this week, which is now next week’s topic. However, I had to write about the school shooting that happened so close to my home. Between us, we have four children who are middle school to high school age. This weeks attack has brought my anxiety, my sadness for those families, and my parenting responsibilities, to a whole new playing field.

I watched a young lady on the news explain that her best friend was shot right next to her. When asked by the reporter about her friend’s condition, she carefully replied that her best friend had died. I look at my children’s pictures and the thought of one hair being touched on their heads, brings a feeling of protection that I cannot succinctly put into words. I would hunt you down to the ends of the earth and beyond if necessary. Or, I picture my child standing there, as that brave girl did, and the depth of sorrow that I feel for her is not explainable.

How have we gotten here? I’m not talking about politics. How have we gotten HERE? Two months ago, there was a small riot/demonstration at my daughters high school. As you know, she is a high functioning autistic. She was carried away by the crowd. How have we gotten HERE? When was the exact moment that my list of parenting responsibilities expanded to include school mass shootings? N0w, I have to be concerned getting them to school safely and equally address safety during school hours. This week, I received a call from our school system that a local high school shooting threat was posted on social media. This individual threatened a “round two” complete with weapon props.

We have dinner at home every night with no devices. This is important to me because family discussion occurs here. Do you know what topic is commonly discussed in the past two years? Be aware of your surroundings. If chaos breaks out, you run.  You hide and lock the door wherever you are hiding. If you see anything that seems out of place to you, report it to an adult or the police immediately. Because if someone had said something sooner, any slight hint of the massacre coming, lives could have been saved. And I pray everyday that we will convene again at dinner so that I have the privilege to address this topic again.

Unfortunately, some parents lost that this week. How have we gotten HERE? What is it going to take for us to do something to stop this? How many children have to die? I lost a child seventeen years ago. That depth of pain is unbearable. When are we finally going to step up and protect our children from this kind of threat? I have no answer to these questions, but I am asking because we need to do something.

The loss of a child is so very painful. Remember these families and also the adults that died trying to protect the children. Don’t forget their faces. Something has to change.