Another Sacrificial Lamb in an American School
We’re Beyond Redemption
The principal of Perry High School in Iowa who attempted to protect students and teachers from yet another school massacre died today.
Every day, teachers and principals, custodians and cafeteria workers, and students of all ages go to school in America and risk their lives.
That is not the case in many countries. I’ve lived all over the world. Trust me, many, many children outside the US do not do regular drills in order to be prepared for a possible attack with a gun from one of their citizens. The onslaughts are neverending in the US, however. Neverending. Anyone with any sense of reality must start their school day with a sense of impending doom.
I’ve been wintering in Spain for 20 years. A few blocks down the street from my apartment is a grade school. I often walk by and see children playing at recess or parents picking their kids up at the end of the day. I’m so envious. You see, those children never have to go to school with the fear of being shot in their classrooms that day. The parents never drop their kids off wondering if they’ll be massacred before they come home.
What a beautiful life. Why can’t we have that in America? What is wrong with us?
I want to enjoy retirement. I want to relax, play Scrabble, go out to eat, work in my garden, and enjoy my family and friends just as much as anyone else. I wanna wrap my arms around the power of positive thinking. I wanna believe that prayer, meditation, and good luck will protect me and those I love. I just can’t anymore. Sorry, but not sorry.
I was a principal of an elementary school and before that a fifth grade teacher for 27 years. I have a granddaughter that I love who is in middle school. My son and daughter-in-law are college professors. They teach students every day. I have a sister, who is a speech pathologist in an elementary school. Many of my friends were former colleagues.
This is personal.
America is so pathetic, so broken, and unbelievably dysfunctional. We’ve completely lost our way. I can’t overlook our deep-seated cultural psychopathy any longer nor will I ever again. Don’t expect me to be happy Pollyanna Sunshine. Nor will I refrain from expressing my deep disappointment with this country that I inherited through the lottery of birth.
I will tell it as I see it. I will tell the truth. Whether it offends a patriot or makes a prayerful, positive thinker nervous, I no longer can pretend. The ship is sinking and until we can admit that America is not the greatest country in the world, we don’t stand a chance of fixing a damn thing. Let me ask a rhetorical question. How many more children must die? How many teachers must die? How many principals must die in the line of duty? You and I both know the answers to those questions that have been asked over and over again.
Many more will die. More than we care to imagine. Many more will head off to school in the morning never to return home. And nobody is going to do a damn thing about it. They’ll be buried and forgotten. Casualties of war in a corrupt and dangerous country that has less to worry about from enemies abroad than we do from our citizens. It’s a way of life. It’s our way of life. We’re so full of ourselves that we consistently smirk while claiming that we’re the greatest country in the world.
We’ve normalized a dangerous outlook on life, a life of perpetual terrorism on our own.
Teresa is an author and dedicated myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
