Its back to school time around here, and while I usually don’t pay too much attention to all of the “Back to School” chaos, this year is different. This year we had to get our little one ready for school for the first time. So we were out and about going through all the back to school sales with our “class supply list” in our hands. Pencils and pens and erasers and all of the usual supplies were available in all of the new popular colors and patterns, and for the most part everything seemed normal.
Until I ran across a small group of backpacks off to the end of the backpack aisle. There they were. With big bright tags advertising them as “bullet resistant” backpacks. Apparently that’s a thing now. And its both heartbreaking and unacceptable. We should not live in a world where KIDS need ballistic protection built into their school backpacks. NO one should need ballistic protection built into their backpacks. It’s not a “rights” issue. It’s not a “second amendment” issue. Its a common sense, quality of life issue. I hate that my child is growing up in a world where bullet resistant backpacks are even a thing.
And if that was not bad enough, I ran across an article about this website and this movement. Go ahead and click on the link below, read through it, and then ask yourself: Is the world that we want to live in? Is this the world that we want our kids and grand-kids and nieces and nephews to grow up in? Is this acceptable now? Is this our new normal? Is this the best that our country and our culture and our society can be?
Keep in mind that we now live in a world where KIDS have decided that this is all they can do to make their voices heard. And we now live in a world where the threat of violence at school is real enough and pervasive enough that the kids are concerned about what will happen after a violent event.
Think about that for a moment. They are planning for something that they feel is an eventuality. School violence is no longer an unimaginable thing to our kids. This is the world that we live in now. A world of bullet resistant backpacks and active shooter drills for our children. And we claim to be the greatest nation on earth.
I’d like to believe that we can do better for our children. Sadly, as adults we are currently doing a terrible job right now. We are failing to keep our children safe enough that they are just allowed to be kids.
One last thought. For all of the talk about how we can’t doing anything because we might be “infringing” on people’s rights as outlined in the Constitution. A good number of folks haven’t bothered to read the rest of those rights that we are guaranteed.
AMENDMENT IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.