So… about that part in Bonfires, where the teacher talked the kid out of wielding the gun in the classroom?
You all may not know that was inspired by a true event at the school where I used to teach, long after I left. A friend of mine who uses the same dance teacher told me the story.
The teacher talked the kid down. He gave her the gun. Her voice shook and she said, “Honey, I don’t know what to do with this. I’ve never held a gun before.”
The kid said, “Just set it down. And come outside with me, please?”
The school board wasn’t going to address the issue. They wanted to talk about something else, something hot button–I forget what–and they, like the school board in the story, tried to keep all the teachers who wanted to attend in the overflow room. A teacher used her speaking time to at least let the parents see that the TEACHERS were concerned.
I knew that teacher– we’d been friends.
I met somebody else from that district (someone I don’t really consider a friend because she thinks my job is morally wrong) and she told me this teacher took an early retirement.
She just wasn’t the same.
I actually have had to calm myself down all week and remind myself that while I’ve been gone from home, my kids haven’t been in school. It’s okay. They’re safe. BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT AT SCHOOL.
If anybody out there thinks it’s okay to arm teachers–or jokes that it’s okay to arm teachers or likes to say that it’s okay to arm teachers and that would solve all our problems…
If anybody out there thinks a law enforcement officer wants to run into a situation in which not only the hostile element is armed but the teachers are armed and the potentially freaked out students are armed and EVERYBODY IS FUCKING ARMED BECAUSE GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE IT’S JUST THE SOUND THEY MAKE…
If anybody out there thinks an AR-15 is just fine to have and ignores all of the returning veterans who say hey, it’s a mod away from an M-4 and WHO THE FUCK NEEDS AN M-4 TO HUNT OR SHOOT SPORT…
If anybody out there conflates common sense gun control measures with OMG THE GOOBERMENT WANTS MY GUNS…
If anybody out there thinks the kids talking to congress are being snowflakes or “crisis actors” or some other bullshit meant to calm their frazzled nerves about going home to make sweet lurve to their firearms…
Fuck off.
Fuck all the way off.
Fuck off of my timeline.
Fuck off my feed.
I am terrified every day my children go to school. Every fucking day. So is 85% of America.
Your right to have a gun is NOT more important than OUR right to hope for our children’s future.
It’s not more important than our children’s right to live.
Stop buying the bullshit.
And don’t bother me with it.
I’m exhausted with it.
