LJones wrote:Valerie wrote:Thank you for sharing this LJones- your honesty and sincere desire to know God's will is such a blessing to read- I was wondering, since you are seeking to know what to do (as a teacher) has your priest offered any advice on what you would do in a situation where you are put in a position of protecting the children in case someone armed shows up to do harm to them? Some direction that you would have peace about?
Well... I think that his position would be to do my very best to keep the kids safe. I realized the other day that my class would be taking my attention if something happened during the day. How could I leave them to go seek out a shooter? I think we get these grand scenarios in our heads where we are heroic and powerful. The truth is that we are neither. So, do the best you can. I don't think my priest would tell me what to do in the situation of resisting the shooter (if I had the opportunity). He doesn't seem to be willing to condemn those who choose to defend themselves. He speaks in the first person ("I don't think that I can...") when talking about these issues.
Thank you LJones, I think that people are 'brainstorming' presently to deal with this. Our local high school participated in the walk out the other day. Since some of my co-workers are mothers of students, they supported this because they feel the children want to see, and of course parents want to see, that their children can go to school without fearing a mass murderer situation- I realize these are rare in the big scheme of things- but there is fear & a certain expectation from parents & children that they should be safe in their school day. Bullying has been an issue forever- I remember children in school picking on a couple of kids in almost every class while I was growing up- I always stuck up for these children & befriended them- I am clueless if there were any thoughts in their minds of 'revenge' but certainly- we did not have the threat of violence then.
You mentioned 'power & heroism' in another post- actually I think this may be a gender difference. A female teacher wouldn't (at least I don't think so) be tempted with the power & heroism visions of grander as much as the instinct to protect. Again, one of the faculty and the FL shooting did put himself in front of students to keep THEM from being shot, and he was killed- of course his wife & child are now without a husband & father but it seems it was instinctive in him to protect the others.
So much needs addressed with all these- whether these are 'white' or 'black' issues or not- we all have our spiritual work cut out for us in making a difference, may the Lord guide you on a peaceful way of protecting the children, and I would assume every teacher who prays, will pray for God's protection daily in their classroom- most schools will probably never encounter this but real issues are being discussed- and hopefully eyes are being opened to the root causes of these things-
God bless you as you seek His will