Anyone lucky enough to have octogenarian parents
have marveled at the stories they tell of what it was like to go to school 70
years ago. Most started out in one room school houses. My father speaks often
of his 5 mile walks to school, of how it was his job to keep the pot bellied
stove full of wood during the winter months. We always listen in horrified fascination
when he tells of the brute authoritarianism of his teachers who were famous for
their knuckle-rapping rulers and fondness for public humiliation as a teaching
tool. We can hardly imagine what it must have been like to teach a room full of
kids from age 6-18. The fact that my Dad’s generation became known as “The
Greatest” seems impossible from such a backward education foundation. But, all
those guys and girls did was fight and win a World War, then come back home and
unleash the most dynamic economic expansion in the history of Western
Civilization, and while they were at it…they brought US into the world.
I mention all of this because I haven’t been able to
think of much else since the events of yesterday in Henrico County. First, it
was announced that there would be a two hour delay of school because of the…cold. It was 10 degrees at dawn and
during the day the high temperature reached 26. I certainly hope my 89 year old
Dad wasn’t watching TV when that was
announced! The temperature didn’t set any type of all time record. There have
been much colder days in past years, in fact, many sub-zero temperatures have
been recorded in Richmond before. But I never remember having school delayed
because of the temperature.
Then, mid-afternoon news began splashing all over
the TV about some sort of incident at
Glen Allen High School. First reports were of an agitated male teacher. Then
the story changed to a love sick 16 year old student who “might have a gun.” Soon,
the entire parking lot and all the streets around the school were covered with
paramilitary units armed with machine guns, SWAT teams scurried around armed to
the teeth, ready to spring into action. Every available Henrico County squad
car seemed to be there, blue lights flashing. A crowd of worried parents stood
in 15 degree cold waiting for information about the gun wielding teenager
inside. Finally, a spokesperson for the, er..uh, authorities informed the crowd
that in fact, the 16 year old in question was not in the school and in fact had
never been to school all day. News teams from all three local news stations
were on the scene with breathless accounts of what might have been another Columbine. One such reporter promised an
interview at eleven of one of the girls who had endured this tragic day from
the war zone of her Chemistry class. The County will no doubt provide psychological
counseling for rattled students as they arrive two hours late this morning.
The old adage at play here in both cases seems to
be, rather be safe than sorry. I get
it. If some poor kid in Varina is found frozen to death at his bus stop, the
County would be tarred and feathered for its insensitive negligence. If there
really had been a 16 year old wielding a Glock inside Glen Allen High School
and the county hadn’t unleashed 10 divisions to the school, I suppose the blood
of innocents would have been on their hands. I suppose. We live in a country
ruled by lawyers and governed ultimately by litigation, so this is the way
things must be now.
Still, I cannot shake the conviction deep down
inside me that we have become a weak and pampered country, where life’s
difficulties and nature’s wrath have become things to avoid instead of
obstacles to overcome.
10 degrees out? How about we throw on another layer
and make an adventure out of it?