I know how she feels. I have family attending the elementary school I went to when I was a kid. Once, when I was in town, I went with her father to pick one of them up from school as a surprise. I was literally chilled to walk in and see Lexan walls and shit.
Not cool.
I joked - sort of - about it being For The Children™ a bit. Some other comments ensued, and someone finally came in talking about how you might not be a criminal, but the person behind you may be, and how having worked for the local PD opened her eyes, etc.
Naturally, I could not allow someone on Al Gore's Internets to be wrong.
My comment:
Not to knock [the local] PD (for the elitist, tinted-window-patrol-car, SWAT team they're all trying to be) or anything, but the problem goes way past the occasional bad guy that may walk into a school and go postal. The problem is that we're being conditioned - intentionally or not - to believe that we are unable to, and therefore forbidden from, protecting ourselves and our children. Safety is to be solely provided by the government. I appreciate your point, Griselda, but unfortunately it only goes to put even more light on the bigger issue.
I was going to add something witty here, but after re-reading my comment I realize that there's not much else I can say about it.
Other than the fact that the situation is wrong, and completely fucked up.
tweaker
My daughters' old school, I started the year out by getting into an argument with the principal over their new security measures. They installed some system that scanned IDs and called a halt to the old practice of allowing parents to wait for dismissal outside the classroom. He was visibly surprised when I called him on the logic of it. Once you trot out "for the good of the kids", everyone's supposed to just shut up & go along.
ReplyDeleteAs to your comment - that could not have been said better. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBrigid Jr, raised by adopted parents, went to Columbine. Need I say more.