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Only a Drill



If you have a child in school they are participating in lockdown drills. It is now a part of our way of life. I sat on the floor, in a corner of our classroom, in the dark, with a class of three year olds yesterday. We had prepared them in a very gentle way to know what to expect. It was just another kind of a drill, like a fire drill, but different.

We sat together for over ten minutes in complete silence which is an unbelievably long time for three year olds. I don’t know what they were thinking but I am sure a lot of it was, “when will this be over so we can go play?”

I’m pretty sure you knew what I was thinking.


  • What if this were real?
  • What would I do?
  • How can anyone defend this as a normal?
  • How can anyone send their child to school knowing that there’s no real defense against active shooters?


I have no patience for those who expound on the rights of citizens to freely bear arms. If that way of thinking produces three year olds sitting in the dark to prepare for nameless horrors, it’s not even remotely worth it. What about their rights to live free of fear?


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