Kathleen said that she was worried about the possibility of a mass shooting during the event, with that many people all crowded together. The chaos and the horror/terror that could be created was almost unimaginable. Nothing happened, but the idea that a shooting COULDN'T happen would have been beyond naïve.
Granddaughter Grace joined a throng of women of all ages downtown last week at a rally to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which made us proud but also prompted her mother to instruct her to run as fast she could the other way should anything happen... away from possible violence, likely involving guns. Nothing happened, but the idea that a shooting COULDN'T happen would have been beyond naïve.
If I were a school official, I would be spending the bulk of my time trying to figure out how to keep children and teachers in schools as safe as possible... and we are only a month away in Colorado from most teachers reporting back to work. So much for that whole "you get three months off... lucky you" argument that the ignorant make about teachers.
Schools are in crisis, and that's without the constant threat of random and mortal violence looming over every building. Little time is left to really think hard about how to improve education itself, how to support kids who are confronting an increasingly angry and divided world, or how to retain and support so many teachers who feel stressed and frustrated and unappreciated.
A school official might think that the school has never had a shooting or any sort of mass violence, and the odds are still quite good that nothing will happen like that this coming school year. Nothing happened yet, after all, but the idea that a shooting COULDN'T happen is beyond naïve.
Even the most extreme gun nuts must be thinking that there is something horrible eating away at the country and that our out-of-control gun culture won't be the cure. The person carrying a concealed weapon, just in case, is irrational and living in some myth where the "good guy" will be able to quickly and accurately assess the situation, be in the right position, and then do what we have all seen too many times in movies and TV shows... defeat the bad guy.
Highland Park, Illinois, is a wealthy suburb, but a 4th of July parade became a killing ground for one nutcase. Boulder, Colorado, is a liberal enclave, but a nutcase could show up at a King Soopers and murder anyone not fast enough to run away. Both of those mass shooting sites featured victims who assumed they would not be targeted. After all, what would be the point?
We can't be paralyzed by fear, of course, though it's a strong urge. One way to deal with that urge is to repeat to ourselves that the odds are very much in our favor that nothing horrible will happen to us, or our loved ones or our neighbors, today.
Those Avalanche fans who jammed downtown are living in a myth, as well, connecting the achievements of well-paid athletes who aren't from their neighborhood or even their state with their own lives that are lived far from national championships and far from often unimaginable riches. Most of those fans have never played a moment of hockey.
The myths we tell ourselves are powerful and motivating. They are not always bad. They are called "myths," however, because they are not real.. they are not factual. They get the sentiment right, perhaps. They can help us understand themes and connect us.
I am flying to Des Moines to teach writing as a journalism workshop today, mostly motivated by the myth that I can truly help some students become better writers in the span of about three days. We will likely have some fun and perhaps a few students will leave with some ideas to build on in the coming school year.
But the reality is that I am just a "consultant," brought in for some "dog and pony show" stuff -- hey, kids don't spend several days at a journalism workshop because they are completely focused on the intricacies of great narrative writing or argumentative writing. They want some fun. They want to meet some new friends. They want to get away from their home for a few days. And, yes, they vaguely want to be better thinkers and writers, but that's the task of years of education.
The teachers who work with them in the coming year... they are the educators that have a solid chance of helping kids become better citizens, better journalists, better people.
The reality is that change in students comes from years of slogging it out, stumbling into and out of strategies and tactics, and becoming more and more confident in what they do and who they are.
Another reality is that, at age 72 (next Tuesday) I am so far removed from these high schools students that I will be more a unicorn in their lives than someone they can connect with. The reality of the education game is that there are only the tiniest number of educators working in schools who are my age.
There's a good reason for that, but I will keep alive the myth of my being able to quickly make some difference in some kids for a few more days.
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