I haven't caught up yet. Have they at least removed the kid's bodies yet, or are they still expected to be there awhile? Just curious. I know that no one can begin to heal even a tiny bit until that step occurs.
I saw a video last night of responding officers running full tilt toward the school. And it hit me...tiny community...first responders....how many of them had kids of their own in that school? Nieces, nephews, adult relatives that worked there? They knew what they were running into and they were trying to save the lives of their own friends and families. I don't want to consider whether any of them failed and whether any of them found their own children in those first minutes.
I thought a lot about this last night, and it came to mind that as heartless as it sounds, I would be one of the few parents that would have to know exactly what happened and exactly what my child went through. I would need to know if they stayed in their seat, if they were running away, if there was any indication that they knew what was coming or they were one of the lucky ones that was hit first and didn't have to try to process why that man was there and what he was doing. Not that I would be okay with their body being left in the school any longer than necessary, but if this is what LE had to do, I would accept it.
I thought about the school my son goes to, and their lockdown procedures. They suck. Not the school, the procedures. The theory is that anyone that arrives after 9 a.m. meets with locked doors, and there is only one door that has the button that you can push to be buzzed in. You are supposed to have to hit the button to be buzzed in. I can't tell you how many times I have just walked right in, or pushed the button while looking down at my phone or whatever, and been automatically buzzed in. All they could have seen of me from the camera angle was that I was female and blond. They buzzed me in anyway. The door is often left unlocked, and the gym doors to the outside are opened multiple times a day, including during the lunch hour and when deliveries are being made. During lunch, not only are the students served, but parents and family of staff can come in and buy a lunch and spend time with their kids during lunch. Security is almost nil during that time. The theory is that all visitors will report to the office, the theory is also that people won't want to shoot kids. If someone gets buzzed in or just walks in, the first room they come to is a locked janitorial room. The second and third rooms on opposite sides of the hall are the gym and the auditorium. There is maybe 20 feet between the front door and the gym, the auditorium is right across the hall. Before anyone could react, someone set on harm could be in the gym or auditorium, both of which are huge and wide open spaces. This is before they even reach the office. I know that nowhere is truly safe, and mass shootings happen everywhere, but they happen so much more often in schools, as of present time that we have to start focusing on the schools. FFS, we can use money to sponsor studies on everything including the mating calls of whales, methane production of cows, and hormone levels in pregnant mice that drink coffee, but we can't spare a couple hundred thousand dollars here and there to make sure that our kids are safe or at least safer?
Priorities. This country lost sight of them. And we're going to lose a lot more if we don't get them back.