I just read that another kid fired a weapon inside yet another school. This time it was a kid in Missouri who fired an assault rifle inside his middle school. Now, when I say that I read this, what I mean is that I read only the headline. I don't know if anyone was injured or killed. I assume there were no injuries or fatalities, though. I guess that would have been mentioned in the headline if there were. No, I saw only the headline and a picture of a shocked-looking mother standing outside the school building.
I don't suppose I really even need to read the story. I mean, I think we all know it, by now. And this is actually the fourth incident of it's kind in about ten days, I think. Did you ever notice how these school shootings always seem to happen in clusters, like that? It's an interesting phenomenon. I guess it's probably not even true. My brain registers it like that. Maybe it makes it easier to process. . . Sort of turning it into a freak phenomenon, like a tornado or a bad thunderstorm. It's just something that we have to deal with, from time to time.
Nothing like this has happened around here, in Phoenix, thank goodness. But, I know a lot of people who are genuinely concerned about letting their children go to school, anymore. They think there are too many safety concerns. Maybe they're right. I mean, it's not too hard to get into a public school building, these days. Most of them don't have metal detectors or drug-sniffing dogs or x-ray machines. No government-appointed agents to screen students and visitors on their way into the buildings. Do we really even want it to be that way? I don't think so.
I'm not sure what my point is, here. I guess I'm just musing on what it means to live in fear. I think fear has become so much a part of our lives that we don't even really recognize it, anymore. I think it's interesting how we incorporate these events into our experience and learn to live with a kind of craziness that just shouldn't even happen. I don't know if secure buildings and metal detectors are really the answer, here. On the other hand, it's probably a better alternative than body armor for ten-year-olds. Imagine the bulletproof vests hanging on the hook by the door, next to the raincoats, ready to wear in case of a storm.
