Just Words......

I've been thinking about my school years. Some memories are sharper than others....but that's probably pretty normal. I was remembering school fire drills. I don't recall if we knew that drill was scheduled before the bells went off....but once the alarm echoed down the hallways I remember following teacher's instruction and quietly and calmly leaving the building. Classrooms would gather along the outside of the building and teachers counted heads. We stayed outdside until the fire department was sure the building was empty and then the all clear would ring and back in we'd go. Back in for math, or gym, or biology or whatever class had been interrupted.

A small "excitement" in a normal school day.

I also seem to remember, very vaguely, a "duck and cover" drill during the Cuban missile crisis. We sat under our desks, covering our heads with crossed arms to protect ourselves from an atom bomb. Right.

But we never had a "what to do if there is an active shooter" drill.

Today everyone is talking about San Bernadino. We watched moment by moment TV coverage of another mass shooting. And the talking heads all chimed in with half-information analysis and helpful comments detailing their shock and sending prayers to everyone affected by this latest horror.

And the next morning the experts began to tell us all what to do in case we are at work, or in a mall, or at school, or at the movies, or at the grocery store, or in our condo building, or our neighborhood.....wherever we might be leading "normal" day-to-day life. How we needed to have a plan, to escape, or hide, or fight. Really.

And the social media went wild....and the politicians expressed opinions....and flags are at half staff...and the President gave a press conference where he seemed just so defeated by, once again, having to go before cameras and express his condolences, his concern, his frustration that we, in America, are back in the news....for all the wrong reasons.

And of course lots of people said this would never have happened if everyone was licensed to carry a gun. But then, really, that's not good enough....actually everyone would have to be licensed to carry an assault weapon to equal the playing field. Wouldn't that be great.

I have four grandsons. I don't want them to have participate in a "what to do if there is an active shooter drill" at school. I wrote a blog about this just a few months ago.....and here we are again.

I'm just one person. I write a very small blog with a very small audience. But frankly I am so angry, and so saddened and so wanting our "leaders" to step up and DO something. I'm not naive enough to think this is a problem that can be solved quickly. There are hundreds of thousands of unlicensed guns living in America. And even with better laws and restrictions in place the bad guys will still find ways to arm themselves.

But America has to do something. Individuals who believe that the second amendment was NEVER written to allow this kind of gun ownership and gun activity need to stand up and insist that we see change.....slow change that may take years....but we need to see change.

But then.....these are just words.....just like all the other words we've heard over the past two days.

Just words.....