I worked for a public utility for thirty one years, and many times that meant having to enter peoples back yards to access our facilities to make repairs. We had a name for this process… we called it rear property line… and we hated it. You never knew what was in the back yard, hiding just out of sight. Over the years of trouble shooting, there were always certain places in every neighborhood that we went to, time and time again, and so often, these yards were home for a very big dog, or a very noisy dog, and I had entered their territory. Now these back yards always were surrounded by a chain link fence and normally our facilities were in the back corner of the lot. That usually meant that there were one, two, or three other yards that connected in that corner, and those yards were also surrounded by a chain link fence. One or two of those other yards, and sometimes all those other yards, would would have any number of the noisiest dogs that you have ever heard in your life and while you spent a couple of hours working on repairs, they barked relentlessly from one foot away, safely on the other side of that damn chain link fence.
Those dogs never did anything other than bark. They remind me of so many of our politicians, every time there is a school shooting, barking, annoying, with no solution to our growing problem of violent children, other than removing my second amendment right to protect myself at home and in public. Everybody has an opinion and everybody has a solution. Here is mine.
Stop nation building. Bring our military home. Leave other countries alone. Let them take care of themselves and we will take care of ourselves. Let our military guard our schools. If we did that, we would never see dead children in our schools again. And you wouldn’t need to worry about my guns anymore. You are welcome.
I know, it can’t be that simple… Why not?
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Blue Moon Wayne 
Catching up with your words tonight…when I am free to speak again, I want the world to know what will REALLY solve these problems. I’ve literally been keeping a list of all the flutters of the butterfly wings I see, and this much I know for sure: this problem is 100% because of a lack of discipline in a way no one can understand without being in a school. People have had hard lives and (absolutely harder than the kids right now do), dead parents, societal concerns, being bullied (although I will admit bullying IS worse now). Mental illness is not new, nor is being evil. Guns have always been available. But we used to believe that to discipline a child is to love a child. And it was painful and oh so uncomfortable for all involved. I mean, I personally hate disciplining my own child. I am also not really allowed to discipline a single child in my classroom. Parents are far more concerned with me setting up their child for success on THEIR terms. I mean, I had a parent tell me a few weeks ago that I should have put the kid’s grade in the grade book earlier so he had a chance to make it up. THAT’S NOT REAL LIFE! You don’t get to make up anything in life, not even in the simplest of jobs.
My county has officially approved a discipline policy for next year called “restorative circles.” I encourage everyone with an internet connection to look it up and decide this: if your child is sitting in a class with a complete psychopath, how would you feel about this policy? How would you feel if a student chucked a desk at your child’s face in a fit of rage and this was the policy? Would it matter if they had a hard home life? Would it matter, in that moment, if that child had access to a gun in 10 years, or are you going to stand up and fight RIGHT NOW?! You have to be willing to let your own child fall a little in this system (detention, silent lunch, a zero in the grade book) so the bigger offenses can fall hard.
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I wish that there was an answer that would fix every problem, but if there is, I’m not smart enough to know it. At this point I don’t see any solution other than figuring out how to keep bad people out of the school that houses our defenseless children. We owe them that. We owe them safety. There is only one thing in this world that can keep children safe when someone bad is coming to kill them. Nobody is willing to be honest. Bad people seldom attack people who are likely to attack them back.
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Love the barking dogs story, funny now, but annoying then I’m sure. I agree 100 % with your last paragraph. For years I’ve wondered why we’re always involved with other countries and their issues. We (the military) need to be here, and stay here. To protect us from the evil dictators who want to kill us. Keep our borders safe, our schools, events and celebrations. Yes, I think it would be easy to implement. And when I become President…
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I’m sorry for all the teachers who know much more about where society is heading than they are allowed to say. And I’m also sad for the children who are so vulnerable.
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