Lock-Down

Two days ago, I was tossing and turning in my bed, wondering how my class should ever escape should a gunman ever arrive on campus, as our classroom is windowless. I thought about possible hiding spots, techniques to overpower the gunman, etc. Today, I was forced to recall those dreams with far more urgency.

It was a long yesterday. I arrived home at 10:40, only to realize I have forgotten to cook the six pizzas in my fridge for our pizza party the next day. Needless to say, I didn't get to bed until late into the midnight hour. Therefore, I woke up exhausted this morning. Things didn't improve when I arrived to find that my room had not been cleaned for the second day in a row. Normally this is not a problem as I usually clean it, but the mud has been so think of late there was dried dirt everywhere in our classroom. Plus, I was really frustrated to have to give my kids a worthless test from our curriculum simply because the textbook told me to.

However, things really took a turn for the worst just after I sent one of my students to the office to go home because he was real sick. As I sent him off, I heard a loud knocking on the door. My former teacher's aide is certainly not her cheerful self and practically shoves the sick student in the door. In a short voice, she whispered "We're on lock-down mode!"

For those of you who don't know what lock-down mode is, it means that there has been a threat to the safety of the students in the school and nobody is to go in or out of the classrooms. I could tell that this was not a test so I ordered my students to get in a circle against the wall of the classroom. I flipped off the lights and whispered the news to my children. I explained to them that something may be wrong and that we needed to be quiet. I tried to keep talking so as not to scare them. We sat there, huddled together for about fifteen minutes. Most of the kids were only mildly frightened as we still did not know what was going on. Suddenly, I noticed the light was still on in the classroom next door--the one that is connected to mind. So I tip-toed over and peeked into the classroom. I was shocked to find that they were all acting completely normal. I asked the teacher if she knew that we were in lock-down mode. She nodded in the affirmative but explained to me that we were supposed to remain calm and conduct everything as normal, except that no one was aloud in or out. This seemed ridiculous to me for a number of reasons, many I am sure you could imagine. However, sensing that there was no serious threat at hand, I allowed the children to read silently at their desks with one dim light on.

We waited like that for two nearly two hours. And there were some scary moments. The kids were calm as I explained that it was probably some punk kid in the high school who brought a knife to school. One of my students asked me what I would do if someone came in with a gun. I tried to made a lame joke, but I was asking myself the same question. How could I protect my children in a room with no windows but two doors and virtually no place to hide? Another girl, with very serious eyes told me that we needed to go around the circle and find out who knew karate and kung-fu. I laughed in spite of the seriousness of the situation. I wish I could be so Innocent to assume that a karate kick would stop an angry kid with a gun.

Finally, as quickly as it started, my principal came by and told me the lock-down had been lifted. I later found out that I was right--a punk kid did come to the school with a weapon. No one was hurt and from what I could gather, no one was in real danger.

I imagine I will be processing today for years to come. However, one thing I immediately took away was the frailty of human life. I always joke with my children "I will protect you." I shield them from bees, guard them from ghosts, chase away men dogs. But I realized today that this really isn't true. I can't stop their parents from beating them, the stranger from driving drunk or even a angry and bitter kid from coming to school with a gun. That, I must give to my Father.

B