Venting My Anger

Friday, October 02, 2015

Today I am grateful for venting my anger or my head would pop off. I heard what the announcers all thought was a great idea on the morning news today. Following yet another horrible shooting at a school, there are “experts” who will offer combat/safety training to school districts. . .including students. Even elementary students.

“When a gunman enters your classroom pummel them with anything in the room, even if it’s only tennis balls,” the “expert” said. Seriously? THIS is the answer? Scare the crap out of our kids and grandkids even more than they are now. . .from armed intruder, tornado and severe weather drills. You’re suggesting adding combat training? Who comes up with this crap?

No one wants to pay teachers a decent salary for increasingly disrespectful kids, impossible classroom sizes, all of the after-hours work, and unrealistic testing requirements. Do you think their pay will be increased with this kind of training? How many people will even consider entering the once noble profession of teaching if they have to be combat trained, or have black belts, or worse carry a weapon?

This is insanity. Just plain stupid. Am I the only one who knows it? Where are our legislators? Where is the federal government? Why isn’t someone putting a stop to this at its core, not at its end result? We need changes. Everyone runs around like Chicken Little talking about the crisis with immigrants and this is our society now, and blah, blah, blah. After each shooting I expect change, but when 26 people, most of them young children, were massacred at Sandy Hook and nothing changed, why would it now?

We spout rhetoric about how horrible 9-11 was and how terrorism is awful. Well I have news for you, folks. These school shootings ARE terrorism. Just because the guy lives down the street and went to elementary school with you, that doesn’t mean he can’t be a terrorist. We are under siege and we live each day in fear because of it. How many people do we have to hear say, “I didn’t think it could happen here?” A million? Is that when change will occur? Look out your window, right now. It can happen right there! Our nation is in crisis.

I can barely type, but I’m glad I’m typing because I can edit myself. I could not speak verbally how absolutely stupid the idea of combat training in schools is without the foulest of language. Ridiculous! Another idiot shoots and kills a bunch of people and instead of getting to the source of the problem which is proper help for mentally ill people, including institutions where they can do no harm. . . and creating nearly impossible access to guns, especially assault weapons.

Now some idiotic company wants to “protect” our kids by training them to respond by throwing stuff at the perpetrator? How many morons think this is the way? Tell me, how many? Have you ever been in a school? There are troubled children and sensitive children and silly children. I do not want terrified children. They are children! I don’t want them to prepare in this way. I want this way to not exist!

This idea is classic sweep the “problem” under the rug because we might make some powerful and wealthy assholes angry. But it’s the wrong solution for a much bigger problem! I don’t want my grandkids scared! Stop the fear mongering!

Get your lazy asses back to the drawing board and find another solution and stay there until you do! No amount of “training”, combat or otherwise, for teachers and students in classrooms is the answer!

[Wp