"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"

NOTE: This blog post is delayed. I always write first, then wait and edit later. Generally, I don't think well 'on my feet'. I like to double check my words as well as my spelling! Anyway, I wrote this shortly after the first Oklahoma tornado. I've had a busy couple of weeks and am just getting back to my blog. I've re-read it and I feel that although it is delayed, it is still relevant, especially as storms wrack our countries interior and hurricane season begins in the south.  As we hear stories of protection, may we always remember that "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". John 15:13 

 

It's happened again. Another tragedy, this time from Mother Nature, has hit a community. Unfortunately, school was in session and 2 schools took direct hits. 7 children died.

Horrible.

Heartbreaking.

Awful.

Really? Are there words that equate to the feelings we feel as we hear the news?

Not in my vocabulary.

When I first heard the news about the tornado that ripped apart Moore, Oklahoma I checked the time and hoped that school had been dismissed. But it hadn't. Photos later showed the school buses lined up ready to load those children and deliver them home.

Often schools are a safe haven; a place that can be locked down or secured. But they are also a place where hundreds of children are targets if that place is the target of a direct hit. What if they had been on the buses? How many would have been lost then? The sad reality is losing 7 children (or 9) may have been a true blessing. What if all those buses had been on the road when that tornado hit? How many would have been lost then?

Sorry. I'm rambling now. "What if's" are usually irrelevant questions. They are vehicles to divert our attention from reality to possibility.

Here is my reality. This tragedy is hitting home for me, because I was a teacher. I remember the annual tornado drills that we did on April 1st, (or maybe March 1st?) the designated beginning of Tornado season.

As I listen to the news reports I find myself repeatedly tearing up as I hear teachers recount their experiences. Last winter we heard the horrific account of a gunman on a rampage in an elementary school in Sandy Hook. That story hit home for me as I listened to the ways teachers tried to protect their students. I could relate on one level. But this story is a little different. I have visions of tornado drills with students crouched on the floor, covering their heads in a protective position, waiting "interminably" for the final call from the office that the 'threat' had passed and we could get up.

The children in Oklahoma never heard that. They heard a roaring noise, crashing sounds, pitch black, and teachers yelling "IT'S ALMOST OVER! IT'S ALMOST OVER!" at the top of their lungs as they crouched OVER their students.

Recently I saw a photo of a bird with it's wings spread out protectively over it's babies. It's a beautiful picture. And in the midst of that raging black turmoil, those teachers would have displayed an equally protective vision.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Your child's teacher may have never displayed this amount of caring for his or her's class. Pray he or she NEVER has too. But know in your heart, that most of them will do whatever is necessary to protect and calm your child should an emergency ever arrive.

I love teachers. They are among today's heroes, because, in front of TEACHING your child, Protecting your child will always be first on their list.

It's been a tough weekend. A community in Connecticut is reeling from a tragedy that is unimaginable. While we go about our lives putting up trees and wrapping presents they are planning funerals. What else they are going through, I can not even imagine, and I won't try. I haven't gone through anything like what they are. I won't put myself in their place.

I had a blog post ready to go, but it is way to cheery, blythe, and light-hearted to post just now. I will post it in a day or two. But I felt as if I needed to say something. So I will speak to one area I do know. I was a teacher. My daughter and son-in-law are teachers, as is my niece and two of my husband's cousins.

I remember one interview I had for a pre-school teaching position. It took place at night. Shortly after we began, the power went out and we were thrust into darkness. As they searched for candles or flashlights, a faceless voice said, "Mrs. Rosenberry, if this happened when you had a roomful of children, what would you do?" I thought for a moment and then answered that in a calm voice I would tell the children to be very quiet and listen to my voice. Then I would tell them to carefully walk towards my voice. Shortly after that the power came back on. (I guess I did ok. I got the job.)

Teachers handle all kinds of situations from fire drills to lock-downs. I was teaching in an elementary school on 9-11. It was so hard to know what to tell children. My daughter tried to find the right words, the right balance, for her 4th graders. Later, I listened to the stories of teachers in an elementary school near the World Trade Center as they took care of their children until parents could get there. I tried to imagine what it was like for them. A friend of mine lived in Arkansas in 1998 when the middle school in his town was targeted. He was not a teacher then, but he did become one later.

Nothing can prepare you for a school shooting, but learning how to calm children becomes inherent in the job. Drills help them set the stage and help children respond calmly when panic could ensue. Even so, there is always one child who knows 'it's just practice', but still gets really scared. We take that one by the hand and help them lead everyone else.

Now that I've said all that, I want to add that every story I've heard this weekend about teachers makes me so proud of them. They were heroes. They hid them, read stories to them, made it into a game of pretend, or told them a fox was in the hallway. They found amazing ways to keep the children calm and protect them when surely they knew it was very bad out there.

They are heroes.

But it's not over.

When school reopens, be it this week or in January, they will have to do it all over again. They will have to help their students find a sense of normalcy while validating their fears. There will be counselors all over that school, but after the parents, the classroom teacher will be a student's first counselor, and the one that will be there every day, all day, whenever a child's fear bubbles to the top.

No teacher goes into teaching thinking about protecting a classroom full of children from a crazed killer. But when fate puts them in that situation, they rise to meet it with courage, calm, and ingenuity. They do it well.