Creepiness

When Miriam has an anecdote to share it always starts with "Oh my gosh, it was so funny..." (One thing I am very proud of is the fact that my children have well-developed senses of humor.)

Oh my gosh, it was so funny. We had this lockdown drill today during orchestra, right? And so, you know, Ms. Thomas is turning off the lights and we're all in the closet and Billy (I can't actually remember the name she said) kept just randomly saying "spaghetti"...

Maybe it's because I recently finished reading the book "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb (awesome and haunting), but I experienced a vague sense of horror.

My daughter, her whole school, were practicing what to do in the event a person with a gun enters the school and starts shooting. During the drill the teacher is supposed to turn off the lights and lock the door. The students practice hiding and being quiet.

I grew up with fire and tornado drills. We didn't prepare for someone trying to kill us, although I guess it's comparable to the "duck and cover" of a generation previous.

Even more startling, to me, was the fact that my children are of the post-Columbine, post 9/11 world. Oh yeah, we have these drills. No big deal. They really don't know any different.

It's not that I think the world has gotten worse because I really don't think that it has. People are nasty, brutish creatures capable of great cruelty and, unfortunately, probably always will be. The instruments and methods change but the song remains the same. The best we can do, I guess, is be aware of the dangers around us, try not to be part of it, create good Karma where we can...

...and have a lockdown drill.