—
My daughter wrote this. Such a helpless feeling sending children to school in this era when darkness has taken hold with too many people and politicians are coward-puppets to money.
—
I wonder daily
Will my school be next
I want to live to meet my husband
I want to live to name my kids
Some people bow down to the NRA
And some people try to stand up
But get knocked down and beaten up by them
School
A place I should feel safe walking into everyday
But in reality I wear headphones just for show
Because I’m really listening
For a gunshot walking between classes
A knock at the classroom door makes my heart jump
Praying it’s not a shooter
Praying it’s not a kid that got made fun of for not talking in class
Who might be standing in the doorway with a gun
And no one does anything
But put peep holes in doors on the mobile classrooms
That do not lock
No one does anything
“We will put guns in classes with teachers” they say
If that is the plan to make us feel safer
It’s not working
My leg shakes under my desk just trying to get through each class
Half the time too scared to go to the bathroom
Because if there is a lockdown
I would be stuck in the stall
There is no escape from the NRA
Or guns
Except to get rid of them both
But those are only things we can wish for
Things that only exist in our dreams
Because our government does nothing
But take NRA money
And look the other way
***
Photo by Andrew Amistad on Unsplash
***
You might also like: 12 Intelligent Ways to Think About Guns, Gun Violence and Gun Control
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‘Praying it’s not a kid that got made fun of for not talking in class’. For me this is the standout line; not the references to the NRA although that would be another good starting point. This line stands out because it seems to me there are still children in schools without friends; children who are in some ways excluded. I don’t want to stereotype the profile of someone who could decide to terrorize their colleagues, but surely it’s someone without friends in an environment that necessitates friends that would do something like this. This needs to be addressed.