I saw this cartoon on Facebook a few days ago. Tyler started trying to have a conversation with me about something else and I couldn’t even pretend to focus because seeing that caused my heart to quicken and my thoughts to race. Ever since Valentines Day and the shooting in Florida, I have thought a lot about that horrible attack. It scares me. It literally makes me sick. It makes me angry. It breaks my heart. It makes me laugh some days and thoroughly aggravates me the next when people spew one sided wisdom as if it were really “that” simple. Obviously, everyone has their own opinions and that is fine, unless you can’t work toward any kind of real solution because of those opinions. I’m thankful that I don’t have the responsibility of combatting this issue because there is no way I could please everyone. The one thing I will say though is that as a former teacher this comic resonated so deeply with me. I want to be clear- this blog is not about whether or not I am opposed to teachers carrying guns. There are some educators whom I would be thrilled to know that they were packing down the hall from me. I know others that would cause me to quit my job if I still had it because the reality is they can’t work the phone…let alone a gun. There might be certain places and people where allowing some teachers to carry is a great idea, and there might be others where it is not at all. Either way- why would we add this responsibility to the already overflowing plates of teachers? Educators right now are already experiencing greater pressure than ever before. The burn out rate is at an all time high in new educators because the professional expectations continue to grow yet the resources needed for such success are years and many dollar signs behind. “Compassion fatigue” is also something of which most non-educators aren’t made aware. It’s basically when a teacher is greatly affected by what his/her students are facing. Most teachers choose the profession because they love kids or want to make a difference or something along those lines. I’ll tell you a little secret…it isn’t the pay that attracts people to the job. Today’s kids are facing more and more, and much like good parents feel everything their child feels, good teachers feel the pain of their students. In my short time as a teacher, I bought jackets, I bought lunches, I stayed after school well into the evening and allowed students to stay in my room and color because they didn’t want to go home. I bought shoes, I wore my contacts so a student could wear my glasses, I solicited my husband and little brother to come eat lunch with young men who had never had an adult male show them any positive attention. I cried over my students when they didn’t show up to school because I didn’t know if I’d ever see them again. I stressed when we’d get a snow day because no school meant no breakfast and no lunch for a large population of my kids. I loved them like they were just that, my kids. Teachers want to make the lives of their students better, and they try, but it’s hard not to feel like all you can do is put a temporary band-aid on their already gushing emotional wounds. Teaching is the most obvious job of a teacher, but so much more has to be acknowledged and overcome before any real teaching can even happen. Teachers don’t need another massive task added to their already long list of responsibilities. My point is this – if I was still teaching and my principal and government came to me tomorrow and told me that I could attain a license to carry a gun to school the same way I legally can to the grocery store- awesome. That doesn’t scare or bother me, and I probably would for peace of mind. But if they came to me and said that I could carry a gun to school and that that was the solution to the security issue that we have in schools in this country, I would be ticked and wouldn’t feel much safer honestly. It isn’t the job of teachers to protect against a crazed shooter. That is the problem though- right now- it isn’t the job of anyone! Schools are some of the most unprotected places in our country and, as unfortunate as it may be, this obviously needs to change. The security in our schools needs to be greatly amped up and it doesn’t need to be another thing that falls into the laps of our teachers. If you want to let a teacher carry her gun in case she gets jumped in the parking lot because she’s leaving the school alone well after dark then ok. That’s another discussion for another day. But between the hours of 7-4 when there are students on the premises, could we not come up with enough security outside of the realm of teachers so that that same teacher could focus on her math lesson? Create new jobs. Spend the money. Hire people who have been trained for such a job. Hire more than one per building for goodness sake. We don’t skimp on security for our government so how about we don’t for our kids either? I see in my own community the amount of dollars that has been spent on curved glass in order for the schools to look prettier. I’d greatly prefer spending that money on security instead of making sure the building is aesthetically pleasing. We have fire alarms and fire extinguishers in case of fires…it’s obviously time for something better and more secure than classrooms with glass walls at every entrance in case of a shooter. Yes, we need to parent better, yes, we need to up the care for mental illness, yes, we need to be kind, and yes, we need to try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but I’m not going to hold my breath on any of those. And yes, the world needs Jesus, but in the meantime could we please make the schools as safe as possible and allow teachers to focus on teaching (and feeding and loving and praying and grading and communicating and parenting and developing and mentoring and motivating and entertaining and disciplining and fundraising and lesson planning and every other thing that they are already trying to do on a daily basis)? This isn’t political for me. I support our president and the separate efforts of him and our last president to try to combat this sad reality. As a former teacher though, I honestly don’t feel safer despite what either side has said. Making gun laws stricter doesn’t make me feel safer because murder is already illegal. Obviously evil people intending to kill don’t care about the law. And I have already said why teachers adding amateur security guard to their resumes doesn’t make me feel any safer either. I want the schools to be genuinely safer, but I don’t want that responsibility to fall on the people who are there to teach. I also don’t want that responsibility to continue to fall on no one. It needs to be a specific job that qualified people attain and focus on every day. Dynamic, inspirational teachers shouldn’t have to consider leaving the profession because they aren’t good security guards. Teachers shouldn’t have to choose between protecting their students or going home to their own kids.