As news continues to break about the deadly school massacre at Parkland, Florida, the students are marching to get people to vote-- their way. The only school resource officer to carry a gun at the high school in Parkland, Florida is talking and telling his side. Frankly, I give him credit. Others will /would talk for him. He has regrets- read his story and listen to what he has to say. He may be the only honest voice coming out of that community.
I did workshops for teachers when I left teaching- a few years later. My family was my main focus right after. Do you know how difficult it is to give a workshop on school violence to teachers? I was a teacher, I know we would "rather be in the classroom." My workshops discussed prevention, not Swat team response mode.
I was a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis.. I know the drills are practice for the real thing, that even as a child- my prayer mantra- was always, "Please, God - don't let it happen here." (Along with praying about earthquakes and volcanoes. I lived in northern NJ, earthquakes were rare and we did not live on top of a volcano. But, I knew it happened somewhere. The news told me.) The Cuban Missile Crisis was real... and people had to do their work in order to prevent another world war.
So, we practiced, being very thankful we made it through the school year without an attack from another country. In the meantime, our own country was beginning to experience the unrest of the civil rights era- outside of the South. Did anyone see it coming? Those with eyes wide open did.
So, the upsurge of riots now is because people forget that rioting and mob mentality do nothing to bring about positive change. Out of fires, people are hurt. History repeats itself. Now it is Korea with whom we are negotiating about bombs.
I am not sure what the excuse is for the current climate in our schools. It is not Trump as some would blame. It is not our representatives' fault. I have read through many of the letters I wrote in 1998 (and beyond) to our representatives - up to the Attorney General of the United States of America in 1998. They were on the case of school violence prevention. And many laws were already in place. But parents and educators were not doing their jobs.
Do we wait for the practice to be the real thing? Some do wait... and the community blames everyone but themselves for the ultimate failure to communicate to prevent a massacre. Guns, bombs (nuclear), cars, knives--- when people don't talk and share--- others may die. The massacre in the community of Parkland, Florida is a complete failure on their part to do the right thing. The warning shots had been fired long before the gun shots did.
Do you want your community to be the next Parkland, Florida? Somebody out there does. You can be a catalyst for change in your community. Do the right thing.. before you have to explain why you did not.
Marian R. Carlino
June 5, 2018
Read the following editorial I sent to the Press in 1999. Deja Vu?
Letter to the Editor-
Voice of the People- Sunday’s News
The murders happened more than two years ago, but they are
still not “yesterday’s news”. In fact,
the headlines in the Press and the Sunday Star Ledger on Sunday, February 21, 1999
described the heartache when someone dies- especially someone young who has
died violently and needlessly. The
victims of the crime were children, and sadly, so were the offenders. All the adults involved are suffering and asking
why such tragic events happened.
They are questioning the circumstances, not unlike the
families of the victims in the violent incidents that occurred throughout our
nation’s schools last year. In less than
one month, it will be one year since Shannon Wright stood between bullets and a
child and died so that child could live.
Her husband, in a Ladies Home Journal article, has questions too. One of them is why the parents of the
children who did the shooting never called him to express concern nor
regrets. Another question is why didn’t
anyone see the signs?
Our culture teaches our children that people who speak out
are often odd or that expressing concern is being a tattle tale or worse, a
betrayer of confidence. Some confidences
are down right too dangerous to keep. Experts
across the country agree that the silence regarding the violence in this country
has to be stopped.
We all have a part to play.
Feeling sorry for someone with problems will not solve the
problems. Metal detectors alone won’t do
it either. Remember, in Arkansas, the
young boys lured their victims outside.
The two most publicized incidents in the Greater Egg Harbor
Regional District once again highlight the silence that surrounds a school
system when trouble occurs and the ignorance of the belief “it can’t happen
here”. As a public entity, the school
system needs to be held accountable.
Part of that accountability is recognizing that the perpetrators and the
parents need to take responsibility. The
child’s Constitutional right to a public education does not include the right
to be verbally or physically threatening or abusive to anyone.
Public education is a gift (for which we all pay) that we enjoy because we live in a nation
based on individual freedoms. Those freedoms
come with responsibilities to self and others.
February 1999
Marian R Carlino