Safety Drills

Those of you over 30-do you remember safety drills at school? They pretty much consisted of a fire drill where the bell rang and you followed your teacher out to the far fence. Then there was the earthquake drill where we got underneath our desks and held our heads. This was the extent of our safety drills.

Today my 14 year old daughter comes home to explain to me the drill that they had today. Those of you that homeschool-here is another reason for you to continue! It was a "shooter drill." The students knew what was happening, it was the first time they have done this type of drill so this was a type of "practice" practice drill. The students were in different places in the school. (school teams-regular classes start next week) They heard the sound of gunshots. They are first instructed to flee. They are to listen to where the shooter is and then decide if they can get to an exit. They are given other instructions also. My Girl knew that it was pretend and she still said that it was "so scary."

What has our world come to when we have to teach our children how to protect themselves from people coming into their schools with guns?

I went to High School in a different world. We lived in a rural community much like the one I now live in. Most of the families hunted and fished often. We had gun racks across the back windows of pickup trucks. Often those rack actually had guns in them, even in the school parking lot. Never one time did I ever wonder if I was safe. Never once did I wonder if someone would turn a gun on me or someone else in our school.

As my beautiful daughter was telling me this I had a sadness for her. We try as hard as we can to protect them. However, there is such evil that abounds that we cannot completely protect them from it. We all know that these types of drills are necessary. In the last years we have all witnessed too many similar incidents.

I pray that all of our children will only have to do "drills". I hope that they can live a life in which they feel safe. I hope that for all of us.